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Phone numbers for use in TV shows, films and creative works

(www.acma.gov.au)
284 points nomilk | 3 comments | 30 Oct 25 21:49 UTC | HN request time: 0.404s | source
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iambateman ◴[31 Oct 25 00:11 UTC] No.45766957[source]▶
Seeing 770-555-5555 on screen has always been a huge pet peeve for me. It really kills the suspension of disbelief for me.
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kid64 ◴[31 Oct 25 04:59 UTC] No.45768577[source]▶
Recently I've noticed the 555 prefix being used less, in favor of prefixes starting with 1, which are also invalid in the real world.
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lwhi ◴[31 Oct 25 07:26 UTC] No.45769232[source]▶
I thought 1 is the country prefix for the USA?
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phantom784 ◴[31 Oct 25 11:32 UTC] No.45770869[source]▶
Technically it's the country code for the North American Numbering Plan, which is used by several other countries as well as the US.

But in this context it'd be the first digit of the area code, with no country code being used because the call is within the US. There are no area codes in the the North American Numbering Plan that start with a 1.

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extraduder_ire ◴[31 Oct 25 12:01 UTC] No.45771076[source]▶
Have none starting with 1 been assigned, or is there some technical reason there are none?
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1. phantom784 ◴[31 Oct 25 12:22 UTC] No.45771243[source]▶
Per Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_Numberi...

"The syntax rules for area codes do not permit the digits 0 and 1 in the leading position."

My guess would be it's to avoid ambiguity with the fact that 1 is also the country code. If I recall correctly, historically, dialing the 1 was necessary for any long distance call (even if not international).

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2. ghaff ◴[31 Oct 25 13:17 UTC] No.45771665[source]▶
>If I recall correctly, historically, dialing the 1 was necessary for any long distance call (even if not international).

You recall correctly. I haven't had a landline for a number of years now but I think it was still required latterly when I still had one. Don't think it was ever needed on cell (or maybe even valid) when I first got one at some point in the 1990s.

3. mosburger ◴[31 Oct 25 18:11 UTC] No.45774952[source]▶
It used to be the case that the middle digit of an area code had to be a 0 or a 1. All the O.G. "cool" area codes like 212 are in this format, and the less desirable new area codes like 646 are not (yes, this is an accidental Seinfeld reference).