Some Area Codes Are Running Out of Phone Numbers

[Paladin1950]

So many people have phones that some area codes are running out of phone numbers. Even before cell phones, New York City was running out of phone numbers.

My area code 518. It's running out of phone numbers, so a 2nd area code was created, 838. I got rid of my landline phone. My new phone number is the 838 area code. Consumer Cellular has a device called a home port. You plug your cordless phone into it, and it becomes a 2nd cell phone line. So no more bills for $81.66 a month for a landline phone.

Back when we all were kids, every house had just one phone. Now days, the husband, wife, and all the children have their own phones. That uses up a lot of phone numbers.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Our original area code dates back to 1947, they added a second area code in 2017 to accommodate increased usage.

Growing up we had one phone, on a party line.

It was a huge deal when I was in high school and a couple of friends had extension phones in their rooms.

I remember my first brick sized cellphone, it was a major status symbol in our company.

 

[dilettante]

We ran out here a long time ago. As far as I can tell at least 3 area codes are used right here in my own "area" now.

My copper-line phone had to be "replaced" and I went with an AT&T product that sounds somewhat similar to yours. My bill was never near $80/month, but this new cellular-based device isn't any cheaper than what I paid for copper. I had no problem transferring my old phone number to it though.

 

[JustDave]

About 20 years ago, I ran into a shortwave radio buff, who gave me some protest material on congress taking away some of or all of the bandwidth from short wave. It didn't say why, but I wondered if it had something to do with making more room for cell phones. But there are so many cell phones that it's hard to believe that such a small segment of the light spectrum that makes up shortwave could make that much room for cell phones. Maybe it had nothing to do with cell phones.

At any rate, it's hard to imagine the buzz going on in the air all around us. And also, as cool as shortwave radio is, I wonder if it's even necessary anymore. That guy that clued me in on the issue was in a state of distress about it. Like me, he was an ocean going sailor, and shortwave does play an important part in communication and weather prediction and reporting. But there may be newer ways coming in the future to handle things like that too.

 

[dilettante]

They took a good potion of the UHF TV band to make room for cellphones.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

When I was a kid, (late 1940s), our telephone number was 321. If you wanted to talk to anybody in town, that's all you needed. But then phone numbers went to 4-7321. How in the hell were we supposed to remember all those numbers!!. Jeesh!

 

[JustBonee]

Area codes keep being added …. we just got our 4th new area code last year.