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How 'Dial A Number' Got Its NameWhen William G. Blauvelt invented the Rotary Dial for the telephone in the mid 1920s, it really was a revolutionary invention (ironic). The Rotary Dial ushered in a new way to place calls. Prior to this innovation one would have to be sure they had a clear line (many people were on serial "party lines") and then flash the operator by pushing down a few time on the "hook". It took greater then 4 hook presses were usually required to get an operator. More can be found here: Why did Bell Labs create phone numbers of 7 digits - 10 digits? Is there a reason that dashes and brackets are used?Dial PullsThe Rotary Dial would operate by the user placing a finger in the appropriate hole and move the dial to the end finger block. The dial would then return by a gear and spring mechanism back to the resting location. This is called a "dial pull". The Rotary Dial would operated by pulsing (on and off) the line voltage with an internal relay for about a quarter of a second with the number one presenting one pulse. Zero would present a 10 pulses and it could take up to four seconds to complete the dial rotation. The dial rotation was faster going forward then the spring loaded trip back. Thus using high dial pull digits would create a situation where the dialing process would take quite long. This was perhaps unacceptable to the phone customer but the primary problem is that high dial pull numbers would take up more time with costly switching equipment.Rotary Phone showing the Rotary Dial and the distance it needed to travel while dialing a number.Lower Numbers are BetterThe North American Numbering Plan Authority (NANPA, http://www.nanpa.com/area_codes/index.html) established the original set of area codes in 1947. However it took until 1951 for the first direct-dialed long distance call from Englewood, New Jersey to Alameda, California to take place. Like most things with The Bell System they studied the problem and for a number of reasons assigned low dial pull numbers to the markets with the most telephones and thus presumably the highest number of incoming long-distance calls. However the study took place a little after the first area codes were established. New Jersey was the first area code and it was 201. The 0 in the center made the area code longer to dial and was noted fairly early on with Bell Laboratory and Western Electric engineers. Later on New York was assigned 212 (the lowest dial pull number) because of it's extremely dense population.In 1947 NANPA ruled that 0 and 1 were not allowed as the first digit, the second digit had to be either 0 or 1, and the third digit could not be the same as the second digit). Thus the original area codes in the US have a distinct pattern.Fax Machines, Pagers, AOL And Cellular PhonesWith the rise of the touch tone telephone dial pulls became irrelevant. Area codes were fairly stable until the introduction of the Fax machine in the late 1970s and 1980s. Dial-up Internet service created a ground swell of new phone number demand. Finally with the introduction of pagers and cellular phones demand for phone numbers minimized area codes to such a degree that a new numbering system needed to be established. Telecommunication deregulation also played a very important role.Too Many Phone NumbersOriginally AT&T tried to establish area codes for just Cell Phones, Pagers and Fax machines, but the Supreme Court struck down this plan. This left few solutions, AT&T started splitting up areas and establish new area codes based on demand and projected growth. As valid area codes were used up by the rapid demand NANPA to allow the digits 2 through 8 to be used as a middle digit in new area code assignments and 9 being reserved as a last resort for future expansion. Concurrent local exchanges were allowed to use 1 or 0 as a middle digit. With any new area code split there was a bias to make the new area code dissimilar to the one being split. In 1995 the first area codes without a 1 or 0 as the middle digit was the 334 area code in Alabama followed by the 360 area code in Washington. The area codes that ended in double digits were reserved as easily recognizable area codes for special purposes, e.g.: toll-free 800, 888, 877, 866 and 855, high-toll 900 numbers.Southern California's Newer Area CodesThus NANPA was left with the higher dial pull numbers for very high growth areas in Southern California and 626, 747, 818, 909, 949, 951 were brought in to service. NANPA has a number of policies when selecting a new split or overlay area code. They have a procedure for requesting a certain area code (http://www.nanpa.com/pdf/Industry_Consensus_Process.pdf) but they are under no governmental force to accept the request and try to stay independent and non political, however state regulators and the FCC do weigh in. An example is Nevada, they were denied the 777 area code and received the 775 area code instead when Nevada was split with 702 area code.ConclusionIt seems NANPA made some area codes more memorable than others and it seems that very high population areas may have received area codes that were palindromes (New York: 929, 646, 585 and New Jersey: 848), making them more memorable to perhaps to cut down on misdialed phone numbers, since these area codes may see higher usage.

Image Source: Wunderstock Free Photos855: The Next-Generation Toll Free NumberArea Code 855 is a non-geographic service area code similar to the likes of 800, 888, 877, 866, and 844. It was added to provide more options for toll-free numbers, which have become increasingly common and popular with the advent of VOIP. These other area codes were running out of numbers!So in a sense it really isn’t an area code since it is not associated with a region. Confusing, right?Should you trust 855 numbers?An 855 number is no different than an 800 number or another of the other toll-free codes. With that in mind 855 numbers are easier to get compared to an 800 number since many more are still unused and available. So I would be slightly more trusting of a company with an 800 number. That being said, never trust unexpected calls from any number— 800, 855, or whatever.

Area code 866 is one of the ones (such as 800, 833, 844, 855, 866, 877, and 888) used to indicate toll-free calling in North America.Therefore, it could be connected to Quebec, or to any other North American jurisdiction using those ranges of area codes.