New Area Code 463 - Mandatory 10-digit Dialing

[savageje]

I really don't know much about switching. Why would it have been beneficial to have fewer "clicks" for large metro areas. Does it have to do with the load/efficiency of mechanical selectors?

[JimH]

I really don't know much about switching. Why would it have been beneficial to have fewer "clicks" for large metro areas. Does it have to do with the load/efficiency of mechanical selectors?

I think the answer to that is yes.  I think they were thinking about wear and tear on the old  mechanical switches, including the dials.  It was quicker to dial area code 212 than, say, 909, if you were in Chicago dialing New York.  I've also always wondered why 911 wasn't "211".  I just read that the first emergency number in North America (Canada) was 999.  I know information was 411, repair service, 611.  Twenty-Seven clicks to call the fire department!  What were they thinking?  Maybe Herman Cain thought of it.

[AdamAnt316]

I believe the original concept behind 999 was to make sure that it was less likely to be dialed by accident. When the US decided to implement their own version, they decided to make it easier to dial. What I recall hearing is that their first idea was to use 111, but the possibility that spurious noises and clicks generated by telephone wires might cause phantom emergency calls led them to come up with something a little harder to dial, resulting in 911.

As for digit dialing, I believe we've had to dial ten digits in my area ever since 978 split from 508 in 1997. Oddly enough, the 351 overlay wasn't done until a few years later, but I'm fairly certain that the switch to mandatory 10 digits was done after the split. In contrast, New Hampshire (which is roughly 10 minutes north of us) continues to be a 7-digit state, still sporting its lone area code of 603, while Massachusetts currently sports nine (four of which are overlays). The history of the whole thing is kinda fascinating; the eastern half of the state went from one to two to four to eight area codes over the years, while the western half of the state still sports its lone original area code (though ten-digit dialing is mandatory in some parts of it, at the least).
-Adam

[KWD]

As a new guy, I've been going thru the archives and this thread made me think of something. When I was much younger, we had to dial only five numbers for a local call in the town where I grew up in Nevada. We had a 7-digit number but we didn't have to dial the first two locally. Come to think of it, the dial centers on our phones still had the exchange name (PArkway) printed on them. This persisted until at least 1978, when I moved away.

[unbeldi]

As a new guy, I've been going thru the archives and this thread made me think of something. When I was much younger, we had to dial only five numbers for a local call in the town where I grew up in Nevada. We had a 7-digit number but we didn't have to dial the first two locally. Come to think of it, the dial centers on our phones still had the exchange name (PArkway) printed on them. This persisted until at least 1978, when I moved away.

Acc. to the TENP database, the PArkway exchange served Alama, Caliente, and Panaca, all located in the same vicinity in Lincoln Co.  I guess, the name comes from the Great Basin Highway (93) that runs through the area.  It is not clear just where the central office was located back then, as both Caliente and Panaca are rate centers today. Perhaps it was in Caliente which is most centrally located and the largest town, but Pioche is the county seat and has a different prefix (962). The NPA used area code 702 from 1947 until 1998, when that was reduced to Las Vegas. The area is so sparsely populated that even today Caliente (775-726) and Panaca (775-728) are served by only a DMS-10 class-5 switch in each location.  In fact, all of the eight switches owned by the local telephone company, Lincoln County Telephone, are DMS-10 systems. Five of these eight, use the prefix 72 (PA): Lakevalley (4-XXXX), Alamo (5-XXXX), Caliente (6-XXXX), Panaca (8-XXXX), and Sand Springs (9-XXXX).

Pioche was YOrktown 2.

Do your remember your first digit ?

[KWD]

I lived in Caliente, which at 1,000 residents, was the metropolis of Lincoln County. If memory serves, the central office was in Pioche, about 25 miles to the north. For some reason, the phone company renumbered everyone in town at some point in the early-mid 70s. The entire town went from 726-4XXX (or more properly, PA6-4XXX ) to 726-3XXX. I'm not sure why. We could call Panaca or Pioche by dialing the 7-digit number. I don't remember if it was the same for Alamo. The intra-county calls were long distance, though I think the rates were low. Anywhere else in Nevada was 1 + 7-digits. When I was very young, I remember a lot of operator-assisted person-to-person and station-to-station calls but these may have been only out of state. I can remember my parents at some point marveling at being able to dial direct to anywhere.

[19and41]

My exchange was ORleans-4.

[Sargeguy]

RI still uses 7-digits, we only have one area code for the state.