internetsdairyFeb 22
Recommend telling your kids that back in the day the length of time it took to dial a phone number was proportionate to the sum of its digits
Show threadEli the BeardedFeb 23

@internetsdairy

Where 0 counts as ten. The original 1947 plan had all full state area codes (and only full state area codes) get a zero as the second digit. That part didn't survive into the widespread public implementation. But giving Puerto Rico 809 and Alaska 907 while North Dakota gets 701 really sent a message. (Note that direct dial started in 1951, while Alaska only became a state in 1959.)

Show threadinternetsdairy
@elithebearded ok I'm in the UK but thanks
Feb 23 at 7:35pmWeb
Show threadEli the BeardedFeb 23

@internetsdairy

AT&T's plan is also influenced why country codes are what they are. Taiwan is 886 because China had sway to punish them.

(And North Americans could dial each other with one plus area code, but dialing outside NA required a zero first. But in the days of rotating dials, you probably did want that extra time to consider the cost.)