On 6/1/2015 7:25 AM, Pat wrote:


When we were young, if the middle digit of the first 3 digits was a 0
or a 1, then it was an area code. All area codes had a 0 or 1 as the
middle digit and all central office prefixes had a 2 thru 9 as the
middle digit. Only 2 thru 9 had letters on the standard dial/keypad.
When they started running out of prefixes in big cities, they dropped
the use of letters. Much later, they started running out of area
codes that met the 0 or 1 rule, so they changed to a computerized
system with lists of valid area codes and prefixes. Now, the 0/1 rule
is completely gone.

That's what did it. It was a fairly major revamping of the system to
recognize other than the 1 and 0 in area codes and allow those digits in
exchanges. And you can't make words using the 1 and 0 keys.

Stop and think for a second at just how amazing the technology is. You
can sit at your home or office phone and punch numbers and then talk to
a person thousands of miles away in another country. Amazing.

Maybe some day we can do it with hand held phones and no wires. Nah,
that'll never happen.