TMI Tuesday.....

A Mr. Al G. Bell IV from Bummfuque Idaho asks...

"Dear Mr. Knowitall, Is there a reason why area codes are assigned the way they are by the phone companies"?

...Dear Al, it does seem a bit strange that 212 is for New York City, and 213 is for Los Angeles. But in 1948, assigning area codes had NOTHING to do with geography! It had to do with how fast people could dial them. Lets not forget that back then there were no touchtone phones of any kind, we all had ROTARY phones!
The faster numbers-1,2,and 3, were called 'Low-Dial Pull' numbers. They were given to large cities for one simple reason..It saved the phone company money! Millions of people called those cities every day, the faster each caller could dial the number, the less time the phone company's switching machines would be tied up making the connection. Hence...The fewer switching machine the company had to buy!
Today, the only concern when assigning new area codes, is to make them as different as possible from neighboring codes, so people wont get confused.

Good Question....

Mr. Knowitall worked late tonight and grows weary...

Peace...!!!

(We are finally getting a 'Heavy-Snow' warning for Tuesday night. 6-10 inches. We have barely a half inch on the ground now!)