Never. There were a few experiments with it using specific NPA-NXX codes, but they all failed. Evidently the number of people who thought they were so important that people would pay extra to call them greatly exceeded the number who actually were. The few references to 500 numbers I've seen suggest that the ones in use do not cost anything to call.
They were. I had a Cellular One number in Vermont in the 1980s which was in a PBX block allocated from a NET (maybe it was NYNEX then) prefix.
Isn't number portability actually a more efficient use of numbering space? That way, if a caller migrates from a land line to a cell phone or CLEC, then it's a number used out of the original pool, not the expanded pool of numbers assigned to that exchange on behalf of other phone companies. And then, if as much of the expanded pool is reclaimed as possible, perhaps that frees up numbering blocks for assignment elsewhere for actual increased demand for line number assignment.
True for the most part, but in some areas the locals really were running out of numbers... For example, in NYC where the "212" area code was initially all five boroughs, they had to split into "212" and "718". And when cellular service begand reaching the masses there was the addition of "917".
(The later area code overlays in NYC were more due to that semi-artificial scarcity you described).
One question to which I've never gotten a good answer is whether it's possible to port a number to a switch if the switch doesn't have any numbers of its own in the number's rate center. Around here we have lots of smallish rate centers, and every rate center has at least one ILEC switch. Without exception, the CLEC and mobile carriers' switches are all in Syracuse, close to the tandem switch, even they have local prefixes in many but not all of the rate centers.
I don't see any technical bar to porting to such a switch. For every number there's the dialed number (DN) and the routing number (RN). If the number hasn't been ported, the two numbers are the same, if it has been ported, the RN is a number assigned to the switch, used to route the call. All numbers ported to a particular switch typically have the same RN. There's no evident technical reason why the DN and RN would have to be in the same rate center, but I haven't been able to tell whether there are policies requiring that they are.
If the DN and RN don't have to be in the same rate center, CLECs et all would only have to get one thousands group assigned, so their switch would have a RN, and could then port everything from anywhere in the LATA. That would be about as efficient use of number space as you could imagine.
+--------------- | But there are certainly disadvantages to go all wireless, too: | | Can one get broadband computer services from a teleco or cable company | if they don't have voice service? That is, can you get DSL without an | associated voice line?
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Yes, at least in certain areas with certain vendors. E.g., my DSL service is through Speakeasy (actually provisioned by Covad) and that line is a separate pair to the CO and does *not* have any voice service on the line.
+--------------- | I wonder how many traditional landlines are being _permanently_ lost | to wireless, as opposed to being lost to alternative carriers, like | cableTV providers.
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*LOTS!!* Recent estimates are that 25% have droppped landlines entirely, and that the switch from wireline to cell has hit the tipping point:
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Cutting the cord America loses its landlines Aug 13th 2009 | SAN FRANCISCO From The Economist print edition Ever greater numbers of Americans are disconnecting their home telephones, with momentous consequences ... Telecoms operators are seeing customers abandon landlines at a rate of 700,000 per month. Some analysts now estimate that 25% of households in America rely entirely on mobile phones (or cellphones, as Americans call them) -- a share that could double within the next three years. If the decline of the landline continues at its current rate, the last cord will be cut sometime in 2025.
No, it's not possible, for that would mean true customer service.
I had the same land line number for 20 years. I tried to use reason and logic to explain to Illinois Bell/Ameritech/SBC/AT&T that the number portability database is a translation table that does not care if the number points to a loop on a competitor's switch, a cell phone, or a loop on a foreign switch in AT&T's network.
It fell on deaf ears.
If the federal regulation for number portability is on a rate center basis, well, we all know that some locations in the rate center's polygon may have a different wire center, so the concept of "foreign switch" already exists in the logic of the translation table.
They used to have a nice service that allowed the number to ring at two different locations both served by the same switch if someone is relocating locally. The period of overlap was a month or two. You could pay for a much longer period of overlaps, a few bucks extra a month. They don't do that any more.
They no longer offer residential foreign exchange service, somewhat expensive. I assume business foreign exchange service is still offered, but I gave up at that point and had the number ported to a cell phone.
As a friend of mine points out, finding the practical solution with engineering is the easy part. The difficult part is changing the nature of the social situation, the custom, or the politics that retains the status quo.
How many would know? Various consumer protection agencies warn people against relying on businesses with only a cell phone number. The idea is you could be from out-of-town or fly-by-night. You didn't say which business you were in. On a professional level I've worked with sales professionals who have only a cell phone number, and that's fine.
Back in March we had a huge hail storm here and roofing companies from all over flooded the area trying to drum up business. I had a guy with Missouri tags and a Georgia (770) phone number ask what the bids were I had received and he'd knock a little off. Various government officials via the media were warning people about these sort of operations.
I knew a guy who had a glass and roofing business (he sold it years ago). He got a landline number and just forwarded it to a cell phone.
In the USA, there is no way to tell whether a particular number in your area code is a cell phone, especially considering number portability, where you can have your land-line number re-assigned to a cell phone.
Another way, which was used before number portability: In my town, a one-man air-conditioner business lives so far out of town that the wired phone lines don't reach him. He has a phone number with a land-line prefix, with no phone line assigned to it. All calls are auto-transfered to his cell phone.
I do computer tech support, mostly for Windows machines. Nobody cares that I only have a cell phone, but then as you say, how would they know? They also allow me to remove computers from their homes when there is extensive stuff to do such as HD replacement, remounting Windows, etc., and they have nothing from me but a business card -- without even an address on it.
BUT, and here's the big BUT -- I have an ad in the yellow pages. They figure that if I'm willing to spend money on yellow pages advertising then I must be fairly responsible, since, as we all know, yellow pages advertising costs a lot. Thus, the expense of yp advertising tends to be self-select a higher caliber of entrepreneur.
Actually, there *is* a way to tell if a number is a mobile number or a regular number. Go to
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input a 10-digit number. The result will either give the name of the mobile operating company or you'll get an error message that the number you have input is not a wireless number.
If you wish to see who that area code and CO prefix holds that numbering space go to
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It even lists down to 'thousands' block in the numbering. It's still possible that the number could have been ported to another entity e.g. it was held by the ILEC and then transferred to the CLEC or vice versa.
So, is there a publicly accessible database of ported numbers? I know the unsolicited call centers are required to purge their calling lists of known numbers ported to cell phones, but has anyone made the database available for single lookups?
And does the database include numbers ported from cell phone to land lines?
Well, the first web link correctly identified my wireless carrier for a ported number that used to be a Verizon land line at my house. The number was ported several years ago, so whatever databse they are using has had time to catch up.
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