In the early days of the Internet, there was this website with a list of payphone numbers from all over the United States. In my state, there were only three entries, and my home phone number was one of them. It was listed as being outside a publicly traded chain restaurant.
On occasion, radio stations would do bits where they would call a random payphone from the website. My house was called 3 times for the same bit by different radio stations. Within a month apart, I spoke to two different stations from New Zealand. MoreFM was one of them, but I don't remember the other. I do remember that that were very disappointed when I told them I had just spoken to MoreFM a month prior. Also MoreFM was the only station that didn't end the bit when I explained it was not a pay phone
> website with a list of payphone numbers ... my home phone number was one of them
Did you find out how this came to be, or just random typo?
Curious what the purpose of calling a pay phone is? (wasn't possible in my country)
> Curious what the purpose of calling a pay phone is? (wasn't possible in my country)
If you want to let somebody know you can't talk right now but you will call them back in 10 minutes, this makes it possible without having them use another quarter (coin currency in US) to call you back in 10 minutes, or requiring them to feed quarters in while you wait on hold for 10 minutes.
Also plenty of other reasons that we've all seen in spy movies :)
Also in Neuromancer when Wintermute wants to talk to Case and is ringing all the pay phones. I’ve read that book a dozen times and never thought twice about it. It was recently pointed out to me how incongruous it is to be in the future with AI and cyberspace and orbital colonies but there are still pay phones.
I think at the time of writing payphones where still so common that it was hard to imagine a world without them. The payphones are also quite fundamental to hacking culture due to the roots in "phone phreaking" which is used in the story. So perhaps it was included due to association with those elements as it will give the reader some context of at that time the current day in this futuristic world and ground them in the fictional universe.
Also so The Machine can give you the encoded social security number of someone who is either going to commit a crime or become the victim of one so pre-conspiracy Jim Caviezel can come and save your life or blow your kneecaps out.
That’s one example. For me, I think I mostly used it to have conversations that would extend past the number of quarters I was carrying.
If you haven't seen this movie. An old one but good one https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0183649/plotsummary/
Also: Die Hard 3
There was once an application, long gone and probably short lived, that let you ring payphones for free over the internet. Me and my mates had a great time phoning up times square, a pub in Australia and other places chatting to randoms.
> Curious what the purpose of calling a pay phone is? (wasn't possible in my country)
Mostly for the humor value for an on-air radio show. I’m sure were pre-arranged just to make sure they got something usable, but I can see the occasion where a random person walking by and hearing the pay phone RINGING would cause them to pause. As a teenager I would have picked it up in a heartbeat (even not having heard the radio shows).
As for other “purposes” I’ve seen some crime/drama shows where the bad guy tells someone to go to the corner pay phone and answer it when it rings at a specific time. Horrible idea now as the phone systems would easily record the number that called it, but up until the early 2000’s it would be one option. Today I would guess dropping a burner phone in an envelope for the “victim” would be a more likely movie trope…
(Source: I’m from the US and remember a few radio stations doing this in the 1980’s and 1990’s.)
> Horrible idea now as the phone systems would easily record the number that called it
I think the idea was that you'd be calling from another pay phone, probably a different one each time so the number didn't matter.
You could do the same with pagers. Your drug dealer would own a pager, you'd call the pager from a random pay phone and send that pay phone's number as a message. The dealer would then use a different pay phone to call you back.
Unlike cellphones, pagers were often one-way, receive-only devices, so you couldn't use them to track somebody's location.
In the 1990s I picked up a payphone outside East Croydon station (UK) and it turned out to be "Amy from Penge".
I wish there was more to this story but we just chatted for a little bit and hung up.
> Horrible idea now as the phone systems would easily record the number that called it, but up until the early 2000’s it would be one option.
Sure, but you would presumably also be at a payphone, and not use the same ones over and over. Short calls and leave quickly.
I don't have any more money, if it runs out, call me back at this number.
I'd like to make a collect call, please. First name "Bob"; last name is... "Wehadababyitsaboy".
My childhood equivalent is first name your son last name MomComeTakeMeFromThePool!
Did you get any swag?
I did win a Lord of the Rings prize pack from MoreFM, but it never arrived at my house. Either it got lost in transit or they just never shipped it.
The call with them was right around the time of the theatrical release of the first film, and the people on t radio show were excited because the movie was filmed in New Zealand. To win the prize I had to name two people from New Zealand. I couldn't think of anyone, and earlier in the call I had already looked up the stations website, so they told me to go to the staff page and name two people.
This was back in the days of dial up Internet, but we were one of the first houses to get DSL. I remember one of the people at the radio station was amazed that I could be online and on the phone at the same time.
Phone systems use to be high tech back-in-the-day and the original "hacker news" was https://www.2600.com (in print).
Ages ago I did work for VFX house. We got a few numbers for the film and maintained an OGM on those lines for like 12 years.
I love when film has a real world tie in
Edit: more media should do this. Fun Easter eggs on IP or numbers from the film.
Excuse me, but what is an OGM?
Probably Out-Going Message.
Seeing 770-555-5555 on screen has always been a huge pet peeve for me. It really kills the suspension of disbelief for me.
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.
I thought 1 is the country prefix for the USA?
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.
Have none starting with 1 been assigned, or is there some technical reason there are none?
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).
It is, although I'd imagine many Americans aren't aware of this.
+1 is also the prefix for Canada
Yeah, it would be nice if the reserved numbers were random so that they didn't stand out. Sure, some nerds will still memorize the list but even with 20 numbers it would be basically indistinguishable to the average person compared to the xxx-555-xxxx for NANP.
Accordingly for a movie that showed aspects of phone phreaking techniques and culture, Hackers (1995) mentions at least three 555 numbers:
212-555-4240: The number of the modem at OTV that Dade social-engineers out of the security flunkie, allowing him to dial into the cable channel's systems
555-4817: Lisa Blair's phone number, which Lord Nikon recalls out of his photographic memory at the party.
555-4202: Kate's number, which Phreak connects to by rapidly pressing the prison phone's switchhook ten times (effectively pulse-dialing 0) and then asking the operator for help dialing
Given how stylized the movie is as a whole, the prominence of several obviously-fake phone numbers is the least of the things that break realism.
>rapidly pressing the prison phone's switchhook ten times (effectively pulse-dialing 0)
Eleven times; 1 was two clicks.
GP is correct. 1 has 1 click (at least in US where I grew up).
There are a few variations listed below, but none seem to use “extra” clicks.
Back in Bell of Pennsylvania days, 555 was a legitimate prefix. It was used to reach BoPA offices.
When I was a kid '555' was my whole [UK local] phone number.
It still is, for every area code I believe. It's the same as calling 411 where I am. (Information)
The UK also has something similar https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/phone-numbers/...
My fictional British phone number is:
01 811 8055
This used to be the BBC number for call ins, particularly the kids TV show 'Swap Shop', but also for so much else during the 1970s and 1980s.
This number was retired in 1990 when the London ran out of phone numbers and switched to two different prefixes, 071 and 081. The former was advertised on TV as 'Inner London' and the latter as 'Greater London'. This bit of marketing kept everyone happy.
There was still a problem with numbers and the need to go for eleven digits. Hence, in 1995, the codes for London changed again, to 0171 and 0181. This was PHONEDAY.
But still, more numbers were needed, plus the tech behind the scenes was ever-evolving. Hence, in 2000, the numbers changed again for London, for everything to start with 020, so 0171 became 0207 and 0181 became 0208.
But then everyone got mobile phones and we no longer heard about how the economy was growing so quickly that we had this apparent incessant need for even more phone numbers. Furthermore, mobile phones had contacts built into them, so there was no need to remember phone numbers, which was just as well as eleven digits were not so easy to memorise, particularly when the prefixes had changed around so much.
Hence, my personal choice of fictional number. Apart from anything else, it enables me to see how well forms are validated, plus 01 811 8055 is only going to ever be recognised as a 'famous' number by Brits over a certain age.
To be pedantic, both 0171 and 0181 became 020, but with the 7 or the 8 moved to the front of the number, so 0171 222 1234 [1] became 020 7222 1234, with 7222 1234 being dialable in London without the area code.
There are also now London numbers that start with a 3 or a 4 as well as 7 and 8 so it's important to properly describe the dialling code for London as 020.
Misconceptions about telephone dialling in the UK are so commonplace that they merit their own Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_telephone_code_misconceptio...
[1] a real number that will get you through to Transport for London enquiries
Growing up my home phone number was 4 digits for a local call, or at least so I was required to memorise it as a small child.
In the very late 90s I briefly had a rotary dial phone - very anachronistic even then - and discovered that dialling an eleven digit number that way is a huge ballache - it's so sloooow! Especially if the number has a bunch of 9s in it.
A little after that I was in the US but kept using my British mobile for a month or two as my contact - giving my number to people was even worse ... rattling off a 15 digit (international prefix plus country code) always confused people.
I too remember the Swap Shop number with some fondness. I certainly called it at least once or twice.
Last note - I realised recently that I still know the X29 address for nsfnet relay from Janet to the Internet (basically a Janet-to-telnet relay). That's a 14 digit number that I last used over 30 years ago. My memory's pretty average, but man, once stuff goes in it does not come out again!
My fictional British phone number is: 0118 999 88199 9119 725 3
From the hilarious TV Series "IT Crowd":
From the amazing, in more ways than one, Graham Linehan <3
well if "bashing trans women" qualifies as amazing...
The streaming services in recent years decided to remove that IT Crowd episode entirely, which is unfortunate as it was very funny.
Why should I care about his opinions on identity politics? I find his comedy funny. He could be Hitler for all I care.
It’s the episode
https://screenrant.com/it-ycrowd-controversy-graham-linehan-...
Many classic tv shows have episodes and themes which are bad today. Star Trek has a lot of 60s attitudes — Mudds Women for example.
I choose to see them as signs at how far society has progressed. Or regressed in the case of trans.
In the 90s the U.K. TV soap “corronation street” - watched by about 30% if the population each week - had a trans character. The character had very little controversy.ant the same time everyone loved Dane Edna. And Mrs Merton.
But today those shows would be far more controversial.
On the flip side, Brookside had a pre watershed lesbian kiss and it was major amounts of outrage.
Their activist movement has lost ground in public opinion as more people learn about how regressive and authoritarian its aims are. Unfortunately it's no longer about tolerating and accepting differences, as with the gay rights movement, which was highly successful on this basis. Instead the primary objective of trans activism seems to be forbidding women from drawing a boundary between themselves and any man who claims to be a woman.
If by amazing you mean pathetic. His wife Helen Serafinowicz divorced him and took the kids because he is so cruel, mentally ill, and obsessed with bullying that he purposefully destroyed his own reputation, career, life, and family.
And now he is deservedly no longer allowed to see his own children, and the self-destruction of his own family is all 100% his own fault. Now THAT is fucking hilarious and makes me pity his family and laugh at him, to his credit as a comedy writer.
A true comedic genius and performance artist, who chooses to spend Christmas Eve at home alone, loveless and angry, melting down in public on Twitter, impotently yelling at Amnesty International!
https://x.com/Hbomberguy/status/1606815849930686466
How Graham Linehan’s gender activism led to career armageddon. What began as a nasty Twitter spat seven years ago has led to a peculiar metamorphosis for the comedy writer:
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/sep/03/how-graham-l...
>Others see monomania and, at times, cruelty. He has sent hundreds of tweets a day at times, often in the early hours. In 2021, Linehan set up a fake account on a dating account designed to “connect womxn and queer people”, in order to publicly expose people over their use of pronouns.
Transphobia is a mental illness, and bullying is sociopathic behavior, but it's fucking hilarious and supremely satisfying when a cruel mentally ill bully gets what he deserves as consequences of his own words and actions.
His dating site shenanigans were very amusing though. Clearly his flair for comedy hasn't suffered, though he could do with dialing back the obsession on this specific topic, for his own good more than anything.
> Transphobia is a mental illness
Writing this is itself bullying and sociopathic
Well, that's not so hard to remember.
I was once on a bus and I could hear some teenagers talking. One asked a girl for her phone number and she told him a number starting with 07709, the UK's "555". I only knew that because a Doctor Who episode had recently used the same prefix.
If youre watching an Australian show and see a mobile phone ring and it shows the callers number, ring it. You'll likely annoy someone who works on the show.
Why Australian shows? Do they happen to show real numbers more often, or get annoyed more often, or do you have some odd specific reason to want Australians who work on TV shows annoyed?
(edit: I see now the domain is .gov.au specifically)
If Jenny's number was 555-5309 I don't think it would have worked in a song.
If you shop at Safeway (Albertsons?) and need a member's discount, but don't have a membership/number, 510-867-5309 works. Staff members have specifically mentioned it.
Something burned into my brain is "call 836-7000 or visit transitchicago.com" which was an announcement that played seemingly every 30 seconds on CTA buses back when I lived there. I was in California once and tried 312-836-7000 as the loyalty card phone number at Safeway and it worked. So I guess I'm not the only one. (847- 773- etc. would probably also work. That's why I thought the message was so cool... they got the number in every Chicagoland area code!)
I have shared this story on Reddit before and I got banned from r/AskReddit for "doxing". That phone number is super secret and must not be publicized! Whoops!
(xxx)555-1212 works surprisingly often. I've used it more than a few times while traveling.
About ten years ago or so, Kroger finally integrated the loyalty programs across all their brands of stores (City Market, Harris Teeter, Kroger, King Soopers, Ralphs, Fred Meyer, and others, but those are the ones I have been in), so you can use pretty much any older area code you like to try it out.
One time I used 867-5309 at a chain store, the young male checkout clerk had an instant of a look of recognition, and promptly sang the number, really well.
There was a fairly large local grocery chain who just required the last 4 digits of the phone number to get a discount. I’m not sure who thought that was a good idea, but they’ve since gone out of business (I’m reasonably certain there’s no direct correlation between those facts).
Generally 867-5309 in the local area code works for most rewards programs.
I worked retail in the US, can confirm in multiple area codes
Rumor was that everyone who had 867-5309 changed it shortly after it released. Except for Jenny. She had a fantastic dating life long before Tinder.
Rumor also has it that in virtually any major grocery store in the USA you can put in any (valid) area code and 867-5309 and it will work as a rewards member number to get you the discounts. I have done it when traveling and have had success.
Yeah, whoever owns those numbers has to be rolling in rewards points. It's my loyalty number at Kroger, Publix, Speedway, etc.
Heck it might be worth trying to purchase said number for the rewards, come to think of it.
I would assume that as many are using it for the discount, there are at least a substantial portion who use it for gas discounts at Kroger gas stations. You can get up to 30 cents per gallon off if enough has been spent lately.
I used one of those at CVS and the printout was rather long; even the cashier was impressed.
I heard of a business trying to sell it but couldn’t for licensing so sold the business and the number was incidental.
Seven is an important digit for the cadence because its the only one with two syllables. I guess you could double-up the last two fives and say "zero" instead of "0" to make it fit.
KLondike 5-5309 kind of works though.
Pennsylvania 6-5000 was a real phone number too
Huh, I didn’t know the song, but I guess that explains the 80s movie “Transylvania 6-5000”…
For the old RNB crowd it was 777-9311…
I expected more than 8 countries + NANP to have drama numbers.
The test prefix for test or example DOIs is 10.5555, following the American phone number convention. I have 10.5555/12345678 seared in my muscle memory.
Does this mean 634-5789 is a real number?
Futurama used the alien alphabet to get around this because, as the commentary said, they didn't want to use another 555- number.
The Simpsons went more meta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qh1JlNaOxo
Wow! Had no idea. I wonder how do they monitor if they use these for setting up an account for some offers.
The only people who would give one of these numbers out in real life are people who otherwise don't want to give you a real number.
Anyone who needs a number for a legitimate reason should do their own validation anyway.
You can try calling them but they return "number disconnected" messages.
I have one of these that I use when dealing with retailers for which the phrase "I don't have a smartphone" does not compute. Saves the hassle of having to explain it every time, and so far I'm the only one using my made up number, so they "remember me" or whatever. But they can't actually call, and that's the point.
For any website registration that asks for a phone number I put in one of these for my area.
This is dope, will be nice to see how many robo crawlers are crawling these numbers.
Always use theses in testing don't ask me how I know.
"The song's title, "777-9311", was Prince guitarist Dez Dickerson's actual telephone number at the time the song was written. Once the song became a hit, the phone calls started coming in, and Dickerson ended up having to change his phone number." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/777-9311
* in Australia
I would imagine the .au on the Australian Communications and Media Authority's domain gives that away.
I don’t see Beachwood 4-5789 on that list.
I don't think Marvin Gaye was using ACMA's list.
For a good time call (303) 499-7111
For dirty deeds ring 3-6 2-4 3-6.
Man, I miss the days when telephones were just telephones. The world just seems less mysterious now.
That was almost never the case. We just didn't know any better
this only applies in country code 61. most folks here would be in another numbering plan:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_telephone_country_code...