10 Digit Numbers Coming, and a new Area Code

[Dogbert]

They do that here in Hamilton. It took me about two days to get used to it after we moved here from Calgary. It's really not that much of a hassle.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

hell i remeber 4 digit numbers

So do I. I even remember our number. 1015.
Though I was wwaayyyy too young to reach the phone back then.

[Burninator]

It doesn't work in my office either. Guess it'll take over a week for it to get fixed. I'm a little surprised that the phone company for our office didn't see this coming.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

Not only that but the late 80's and early 90's you knew by the first 3 digits what part of the city they were in....291 ,285, 292 were in the NE...273,272 were Forest Lawn/Dover...274 was like Huntington...going of memory here is it may not be correct...252 was like Southwood...238 Canyon Meadows

Yeah, 238, 251 and 281 were Woodbine/Woodlands, Canyon Meadows and I think Braeside, Oakridge, Cedarbrae and Palliser.

I'm going to miss knowing the general location (or type of line, be it cellular or land line) of where I'm calling by the first 3 digits... hell, I'm going to miss knowing where in the province I'm calling. Overlaying an area code is plain ######ed. There's no reason why they didn't simply add two new area codes, confine 403 to Calgary, 780 to Edmonton and 587 for Alberta South and 785 (or whatever) for Alberta North, and be set for the next 25+ years.

[exile183]

[bump]

Now that we're in the era of mandatory 10-digit dialing, the telcos are free to begin assigning numbers in the 587 area code.

And today (well yesterday I guess: it's after midnight) I became the 13th Alberta customer to get one. As it happened I need a new Blackberry for work, so I thought I'd snag one of the new numbers (which were JUST made available) just so I'd piss off everybody who has to phone me.

Little did I realize it was going to piss *ME* off, too! Because... hardly anybody can actually bleedin' REACH ME!

Telus gave me 587-580-xxxx. Works fine: I can place calls anywhere and the call-display works normally. Really confused the girl at Pizza 73 who took my pizza order though.

I tried calling it from my landline, and I got "you have reached a number to which long distance charges apply". If I redial with a leading "1", the call goes through. Weird.

So I figured I better check to see just how big a problem this was. Tried calling it from my Bell Mobility cellphone. Wouldn't go through, with or without the "1"! Had a friend with a Virgin cellphone try to call: same thing! Had my stepfather, who has a Shaw Cable landline, try to call: same thing again!

Then I had my friend in freakin' Louisiana try. He could get through fine on his landline, but not on his cellphone.

Telus, you buncha boneheads! This isn't rocket science! You're the phone company: you should know how to route a call!

Grrrr....

[corporatejay]

I reserved my home phone early just so i wouldn't be a castaway like Elaine on that episode of seinfeld when she became a 646.

"...what is that...jersey?"

[troutman]

Why can't 403 be the default, and you only have to dial the other codes?

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by troutman

Why can't 403 be the default, and you only have to dial the other codes?

Some lawyer probably screwed it up for everyone. I blame lawyers.

[You Need a Thneed]

Anyone else still know of numbers that can be dialed WITHOUT the area code. I still had one client who I could dial without an area code (and not even get a warning message) the last time I tried, which was last week.