What is american phone number format ?

[-]

ComprehensiveDeer56@reddit

no. the first president to install a phone had only one number in it, and it was 1. so now we have +1 in honor of that fact. we do not have exceptions. but hey, neat question(better than Aussies claiming we don't have the breathalyzer)

[-]

WillDupage@reddit

1+(3 digit area code)+(3 digit exchange code)+(4 digit number)

[-]

Courwes@reddit

I remember how you could tell what part of town a person lived in by the exchange number.

[-]

ThirdSunRising@reddit

I had a friend whose phone number was DIE-U2U2.

[-]

SRQmoviemaker@reddit

My parents number growing up was SEXY123. We got a lot of unwanted calls but they kept that number til they divorced and sold the house.

[-]

213737isPrime@reddit

I had WUF DAWG for a while but I didn't need two phone numbers and my other one is better

[-]

ThirdSunRising@reddit

Better than WUF DAWG?

I don’t normally ask for random internet people’s phone numbers but…

[-]

Standard-Outcome9881@reddit

My grandmother who lived in a certain neighborhood in Philadelphia and everybody on the street would say “IVY-1234” (Ivy as in the plant) as their number because everyone’s number started with 48 (IV).

[-]

ExpertYou4643@reddit

Nice idea, I may use that. The first number my parents had in the suburbs was CRestwood-2, and Crestwood was my school.

[-]

worrymon@reddit

KLondike-5 (555) was always used in shows and movies.

"Pennsylvania 6-5000"

That was the phone number for the Pennsylvania Hotel across from Penn Station in NYC until they closed a few years ago

[-]

real415@reddit

KLondike 5 was the default fake number, since it was set aside for phone company use. Many cities did have a KL exchange with a different number, though, since it was really all you could do with the 55 prefix.

The real problem with the exchange name convention was there were some number combinations that you couldn’t make words for. I remember that in New York City, which was one of the first places in the country that had serious problems trying to make exchange names work for all the possible combinations, they eventually just started assigning two letter letters that didn’t spell a word, in the 60s and 70s, like WL.

[-]

loseunclecuntly@reddit

The phone company started that because there were more customers than the old fashioned prefixes could handle. They also had to split area codes because of volume.

KLondike 5-5555 became the movie number because the phone company made it a “dead” number that would not connect to a real phone number. People would hear movie numbers and try dialing them, some turned out to be a real number. Or they tried a movie number with the local exchange and connect with a local phone.

Area code-555-5151 used to connect you with directory assistance (actual operator), so if you needed to find a number in a different state you could.

My grandma’s was HUmbolt3-1090. She passed in ‘72 and I can still remember it easily.

That number you quoted would be said/written CHicago-6-0000 or CH-6-0000.

I vaguely remember the correlation of the letters.

[-]

ur_moms_chode@reddit

261/262/263 = Kailua

[-]

yowhatisuppeeps@reddit

I think east end was 2.

[-]

Yep Taylor Blvd. Literally lived right off Taylor. 375 closer to Iroquois.

[-]

jiminak@reddit

In my town (in the 70s), we only had one exchange number, and you didn’t need to dial it. We only used 4 digits to call each other. There were a few other towns in our county, and we all had the same first two digits in the exchange. So one town was 291- and the next town was 292-, my town was 293-, etc. If we wanted to call someone in the next town over, but not leaving this county grouping, we only needed to dial the last number of the exchange. To call my grandmother, I had to dial 2-6773. If I was at her house and I wanted to call home, I dialed 3-5338. My best friend 2 streets over was simply 2865.

Our state only has one area code, so to dial outside our country but stay inside the state was a long-distance, 7-digit number.

And once upon a time, the area code used numbers 2-9 for the first number (0 and 1 were restricted due to 0 being used for contacting an operator and 1 being a signal code for long distance) and could only have a 1 or a 0 as the middle number (e g. 708). The third digit of an area code could be any number, though the codes that ended with 11 (e.g., 211) were later reserved for special services numbers, such as 411 for directory assistance and 911 for emergency services, and the codes that ended in 10 (e.g. 210) became area codes for the teletype exchange service.

Also, if the area code had a 0 for the middle number, it meant the state or province only had one area code. If it had a 1 as the middle number, it meant the state or province had more than one area code. That rule was abandoned in the 1950s.

Local exchange codes were similarly restricted in their numbering pattern. Neither the first digit nor the second digit could be a one or a zero, and the last digit could be any number. The restriction on the middle digit not being a 1 or a 0 was lifted in the 1970s, though some numbers such as X11 continued to be reserved.

[-]

devilbunny@reddit

This is never bad advice. However, in that scam, the catch was that the (legit) text sent by Qantas did NOT prepend a '+' to the '1800whatever' number sent to those who were boarding a flight from the US, and the scammers took advantage of Australians whose phones interpreted that as an Australian number and dialed it as one.

I can say that for using Verizon and AT&T in Mexico, if you dial a US number with the keypad but do not prepend +1, it will not work. If you do it on an iPhone with Dial Assist on (it's on by default) to call a contact, even one who does not have a +1 at the start of their number, the phone will correctly reroute it. I don't know if the same rules apply to text-linked numbers.

It would be even better if, say, phones just automatically fixed new contacts as you added them to be in full universal mode., country code and all. And then when we shared contacts, people could just... have the universal phone number(s) to contact each other.

[-]

+1 is the long distance prefix. You use it within North America.

On land lines you have to dial 1+area code (3 digits) + exchange code (3 digits) + 4 digit number. People that grew up with cell phones probably don’t know this since cell phones do it automatically.

Calling the U.S. from outside North America you add 001 to the beginning of the number.

[-]

vwsslr200@reddit

+1 is the long distance prefix. You use it within North America.

Not quite. "+1" and "1" are not the same thing.

"+1" is the country code for the North American Numbering Plan, which you must dial to call NANP countries (including the US) from abroad. 001 is not necessarily the code for the + symbol - it can vary by country.

"1" when used domestically (without the +) is the "trunk code". It's required to be dialed when making domestic long distance calls from a landline.

[-]

Yankee_chef_nen@reddit

Yup I should’ve omitted the + there.

[-]

dontwantgarbage@reddit

The 1 is the long distance prefix. You don’t dial the + when calling another domestic line. Different countries represent the + differently. In the United States, the + is 011.

Huh, I thought it was only long-distance outside of the area code.

[-]

Suppafly@reddit

Huh, I thought it was only long-distance outside of the area code.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[-]

Eric848448@reddit

Hello chief! Let’s talk, why not?!

[-]

rufflesinc@reddit

1 is not part of the phone number

[-]

WillDupage@reddit

You dial it on a land line, friend. Those of us that work in offices know that.

[-]

rufflesinc@reddit

Yes its part of how you dial, but its not part of the actual phone number

I store all number in my phone with in the format +1(234)567-8910

I put the country code +1 for US / Canada… so my phone works when I call people if I am outside the US.

[-]

silvermoonhowler@reddit

On a landline you have to dial it before dialing a number in another area code, or as I've heard, in a different exchange code within the same area code

TIL of exchange codes.

I always thought it was based on your region, and was just a random number from there. And even then in my experience carriers give phone numbers out willy-nilly.

I've never lived anywhere but Virginia, but not only have I had 703 and 571 area codes, but 202 (DC) and 240 (Maryland).

[-]

aaronw22@reddit

This is also called the NXX, so you have NPA (301) and then NXX (299 for example is the number was 301-299-XXXX). You can look them up here:

https://localcallingguide.com/lca_prefix.php

You can enter an NPA and NXX (area code + exchange) to see what carrier owns it.

[-]

SabresBills69@reddit

50+ years ago the aaa-bbb-cccc

The bbb was geographically defined areas.

This triggered local long distance calls within the same area code.

When pagers/ cells came around these companiescwere given bbb exchanges.

The phone portability laws passed allowed people to keep their cell phone numbers.

[-]

seifd@reddit

Additionally, you see a lot of 555s in movies because that number traditionally isn't used.

[-]

Intelligent-Dot-8969@reddit

1+ is not part of the telephone number. It's the code used by landline telephone switching systems to initiate a long distance call from within the U.S.

Yes, all voice telephone calls are made to a +1 with 10 digits number. However, SMS / text messages can have a "short number" (6 digits) that sends texts to these phones.

We do have some nationwide numbers that are three digits like many countries have:

211: Community services and information
311: Municipal government services, non-emergency number
411: Directory assistance
511: Traffic information or police non-emergency services
611: Telephone company (telco) customer service and repair
711: TDD and Relay Services for the deaf and hard of hearing
811: Underground public utility location (United States);^([9]) non-emergency health information and services (Canada)
911: Emergency services (police, fire, ambulance and rescue services)

[-]

Nawnp@reddit

1 is the country code (which we don't use domestically), it's a 3 digit area code plus 7 digits. We always format it (XXX)-XXX-XXXX

[-]

HarlequinKOTF@reddit

All private numbers are written as

+1 - the country code (usually omitted)

(###) - the area code (usually linked to a predetermined geographic region)

And then a unique string of 7 numbers usually written in a group of three and four.

The result is the standard American number format +1 (555) 555-5555

(Side note 555 numbers are reserved Hollywood dummy numbers)

After learning about the clusterfuck that is UK numbers, the US (and Canadian and some of the Caribbean) plan isn't so bad.

People from other countries will argue until they're blue in the face that cell phones shouldn't have area codes since they're not fixed in one place and it doesn't make sense you can have an area code that doesn't match where you live, but our system works.

[-]

xampl9@reddit

There may still be regions in North America who don’t need 10-digit dialing. But if the area is fast-growing or has had another area code overlaid, then everyone dials all ten.

[-]

aegam@reddit

There's only a small block of 555 numbers reserved for fictitious use: 555-0100 through 555-0199. Everything else (with the exception of 555-1212 being reserved as you mentioned) is fair game for real use:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_(telephone_number)

[-]

beardiac@reddit

Neat. I didn't know that part. There also used to be more complex limitations to digit assignment prior to some major changes back in the 90s. E.g., all area codes used to have a 0 or 1 as the middle digit (and therefore exchanges could NOT follow that pattern). I think 0 & 1 are still disallowed as the initial digit of area codes and exchanges.

[-]

come-join-themurder@reddit

Just adding. The first three numbers, as you said, indicate a geographic region. The *second* set of three numbers ALSO indicate a geographic region - a smaller one that lies within the region already denoted by the first set of numbers. Then the last four are unique to the individual you are trying to reach.

[-]

DogOrDonut@reddit

They are all in that format. You give a number in a 3-3-4 cadence.

Far_Kangaroo2550@reddit

I was only nine when this happened. For landlines, did they change the area code but keep the last 7? I vaguely remember this was the case, but that sounds impossible.

Aside from 424 and 661, 626 is relatively new though. Used to be 818, when there was just 213 and 818, then it became 626.

JohnLuckPikard@reddit

Yes. +1 for the country code that we never dial.

Then a 3 digit area code for some people, but large portions of Americans will only ever dial the main 7 digit number. Maine for example, has a population of about 1.2M.

Any phone number issued in the state has the same area code, so you'd only have to dial 555-1234

[-]

ZWiloh@reddit

I've never in my life skipped dialing the area code. I find it hard to believe that's a thing.

[-]

FatGuyOnAMoped@reddit

How old are you? Up until relatively recently, you could just dial the 7-digit number if that number was in the same area code.

[-]

ZWiloh@reddit

I'm in my 30s. I'm not denying it's true, just that I had no idea it was (or used to be) a thing and find it really weird. When cell phones became a thing, most of them where I'm from had a different area code than the local one, so it's weird to me to think about skipping it being an option.

[-]

Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit

There's a very famous old song that I hope you've heard of called ”867-5309/Jenny”, sung by Tommy Tutone.

Here are part of the lyrics

🎶
Jenny, I got your number
I need to make you mine
Jenny, don't change your number
867-5309 (867-5309)
867-5309 (867-5309)

That was in the era of seven-digit dialing so people all over the country in different area codes but with the number 867-5309 got called a lot. He didn't use the fake 555 number because it wouldn't have been very musical.

He didn't actually sing it the way it was written though. It was more like 8675 309. (Three - Oh - Ni-ee-nine)

ZWiloh@reddit

I asked her for clarity, and she says she misspoke, apparently. But she said that dialing 7 digits stopped being a thing where we are over 40 years ago, so when I mentioned what someone else said about it stopping in 2021, she thought it was so ridiculous that she thought it was BS. So this is a mix of misunderstandings.

[-]

Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit

Thanks for the clarification. More populated areas made the change first (out of necessity). It happened in my area in 1998.

[-]

FatGuyOnAMoped@reddit

That's why you always called long distance after 5pm or on the weekends.

[-]

TrashPandaNotACat@reddit

And a long time ago the township I lived in only required you dial the last 4 digits of the number if you were making a local call (everything outside of the town's 3 digit prefix was a long distance call). They eventually added a second prefix.

When they added the second prefix it changed to where if you were calling one of the numbers under the new prefix, you had to dial the last 5 digits, but if you were calling someone with a number that was under the original prefix, you could still only dial the last 4.

Eventually they expanded the area as to what was considered a local call and began requiring everyone dial all seven digits.

[-]

FatGuyOnAMoped@reddit

I vaguely remember those days from when I was a kid in the 1970s. We lived in an exurb that was still in the process of getting built out. You could still dial the 5-digit number to get someone.

[-]

vwsslr200@reddit

That is not universal. Your article is about Arizona, not Maine.

10 digit dialing is still allowed in area codes that haven't been overlayed, and don't have a "988" central office code that would conflict with the suicide hotline.

[-]

Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit

Facts are cool, aren't they? More power to them.

[-]

JohnLuckPikard@reddit

Thanks.

Mostly irrelevant these days.

Originally

1 (234) 567-8901

1: country code specific to the USA and maybe Canada 234: area code specific to a large city or portion of a state 567: exchange code specific to an area like a neighborhood 8901: your individual number within that local exchange

Now with everything being digital, you can take your number anywhere in the country on any carrier.

[-]

Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit

Some area codes apply to entire states. Not necessarily small ones but relatively unpopulated ones - like South Dakota.

The 1 at the beginning is shared by all countries in the North American Numbering Plan and includes the US, Canada and many Caribbean nations.

[-]

gus_in_4k@reddit

Something to add onto what everyone else has said, a distinction that I don’t think many people know about.

When dialing a domestic call, in any country that has area codes, they have a “trunk code” — this is the first digits that signal to the network, ok, I’m going to be dialing an area code instead of just a local number. I know in the UK, for instance, the trunk code is “0”, and in the way they present their numbers, they incorporate it into the area code, like “020”.

In the US, the trunk code is 1. You dial a 1 to indicate that you’re going to be putting in an area code, and not just using a local number.

The confusion is that the US’s international dialing code is also “1”. Numbers with a + indicate a country code, so saying +1 is meant to stand in opposition to, say, +44. When you use an international code, you don’t use the trunk code — that’s why when calling London from abroad, you use +44 20, not +44 020. But since the US’s country code is the same as its domestic trunk code, those ideas get confused.

[-]

vwsslr200@reddit

Another interesting thing is the trunk code can work differently in different countries. For example in the US, the trunk code is not required when dialing from a cell phone, but here in the UK it still is.

Not true. Area code is required.

[-]

TrashPandaNotACat@reddit

Might be VOIP dependent? From my recollection, my VOIP (voip.ms) requires the 1 for all phone calls but also allows for reprogramming of the dialing patterns.

[-]

georgia_moose@reddit

I have a landline at my place of business. Yes, you still have to dial the "1" for anything "long distance" (which is pretty much anything outside of the town). I have looked into VOIP and its not a viable option here.

[-]

Gulleywhumper@reddit

1 or 0. 1 for direct dialing, 0 for operator assistance.

[-]

Jujubeee73@reddit

What?!? I’ve never skipped the 1 when I’ve needed to dial the area code. 🤦🏼‍♀️

[-]

GradStudent_Helper@reddit

I remember using my landline as a kid and - if you were dialing a number within your same area code, you didn't even need t dial the area code (as in the hit single "867-5309/Jenny"). It was slightly annoying to me when I got my first cell phone that I had to dial the area code EVERY time.

(202) 555-1234

Area code. 7 digit.
When I was 10 or 11 years old, they had us include the area code when dialing. You use to be able to dial 7 digits and reach someone local but cell phones.

[-]

Next-Wishbone1404@reddit

When I grew up we only had to dial the last five numbers. And I often visited a town where you only had to dial the last four. This was in the late 1980s.

[-]

Vegetable_Feature662@reddit

Many places still allow for 7-digit dialing. It’s usually changed to 10 when an area gets an overlay second area code.

[-]

Redbubble89@reddit

google says 571 was introduced in 2000 in my area so that kind of lines up. When I went to college in a rural area that had 540, I still had to include it. Local business would still only put the 7 digit on menus or signs but still had to dial it.

[-]

vbf-cc@reddit

The +1 that needs to be prepended if dialing from overseas is not the same as the 1 that's often quoted at the beginning of numbers for long-distance dialing within North America.

The +1 is the "country" code for the North American number plan area (US, Canada, some Caribbean countries; Mexico before 1991) when calling from outside it.

When calling within the area, the initial 1 is (or was) a clue that the call would be charged as a "long distance" one. "Local" calls have always been free, and long distance used to be very expensive, so local vs long distance was an important distinction. If the destination was with the caller's same area code, you might only need 7 digits after the 1. If to another area, then you'd need 10.

Confusing the issue, the 8xx area codes are free but may still require the 1.

The distinction has become much less important with nation-wide calling plans, overlay area codes and cell phones that don't much care whether you include the 1 or not.

[-]

Riker_Omega_Three@reddit

I don't know if anyone mentioned it, but there is telephone format when you give someone a number as well

You tell them the area cold

555 pause a beat then 867-53-09

[-]

No-Donut-8692@reddit

My only quibble is that it isn’t “American” number format. It’s North American. US, Canada, some Caribbean nations, and US territories that choose to join the NA standard. Invariably 10 digits.

[-]

There are several variations, depending on just how long the number has been around. +1 is the international/long distance intra-national call code, typically written without the + if it is written at all, it is usually dropped altogether because it's understood as to when it is necessary. You still have to dial the 1 on most landlines, it's unnecessary on a cell phone.

The ten digits by themselves are the most commonly written form in use here, like (510) 555-1212, with or without parentheses or dashes. That number, by the way, would be the number for directory assistance in Oakland, California and possibly some nearby areas. Changing the area code to something else, like 504, would give you directory assistance for the area including and surrounding New Orleans, Louisiana.

Depending on where in the US you happen to be, it was very common as recently as 10 years ago for numbers to be given as only 7 digits, because area codes covered large geographic areas in less densely populated regions, and it was assumed that anyone seeing the number was close enough for it to be a "local" call, because there was a meaningful distinction between local and long distance numbers, the former being unlimited, the latter incurring costs that in today's money would amount to multiple dollars per minute.

To confuse things further, phone numbers are often given in the form of words, for advertising purposes. The digits 2-9 were each assigned three letters of the alphabet in sequence, so that 2=ABC, 6=MNO, and so forth. Q and Z were originally left out, being seen as unnecessary, though they later got added back in, first attached to 1, before finally getting placed with 7 and 9 respectively, giving those numbers four letters each. This was done so that a butcher shop could say things in commercials like "remember, for the best quality meats around, pick up the phone and dial "Buy Beef", which people could readily look at the keypad and translate back to 289-2333, again assuming local. For larger area advertising, they just stick the area code or toll free call code in front. They could also use words longer than 7 letters, with the extras just being ignored, like if the number was (800) Buy Seafood, the connection would be made as soon as the f got translated into pressing 3, and any numbers dialed after that would be ignored.

My mom loved this song.

[-]

According-Fun-7430@reddit

I live in Montana. Montans only has one area code (the number after the country code, denoted with parentheses). Until we got a suicide hotline, it used to be:

Local - XXX-XXXX Long distance - 1 (XXX) XXX-XXXX

Now that the suicide hotline exists, for me it's:

Local - (406) XXX-XXXX Long distance - 1 (XXX) XXX-XXXX

[-]

SquatchK1ng@reddit

(555)555-5555

[-]

RightRudderz@reddit

1-979-220-3328

[-]

Efficient_Advice_380@reddit

1+ (XXX)-XXX-XXXX

[-]

ThirdSunRising@reddit

Yes. +1 specifies the North American system (only necessary if you’re not already inside it, but it’s always okay to dial it), the next three digits are the area code (specifying what country, state, province, territory, island or urban area you’re in), then a seven digit local number.

Not always.

When 988 was added as the s-cide (I hate that I have to censor this, but Reddit...) hotline number, area codes that already had a 988 prefix had to switch to 10 digit dialing to clear up confusion.

On cell phones, you enter the whole number before your phone even tries to make a call, but landlines still figure it out as you dial, if that makes sense, so if you start dialing 9-8-8, the system doesn't know if it should connect you to the hotline or wait for you to finish dialing the rest of the number. Requiring the area code removes that ambiguity.

If you dial 3-1-4-9-8-8 then the phone system knows "Okay, you're dialing a phone number in the 988 exchange in the 314 area code, let me wait for the next four digits". If you dial 9-8-8, then the phone system knows to connect you to the hotline.

There are several famous area codes that promote a sense of regional pride or have importance

202 - Washington D.C. Many government offices have the 202 area code.

212- area code for Manhattan, NY.

514- area code for the island of Montreal.

“The 6” refers to two different Toronto area codes including the number 6.

[-]

P00PooKitty@reddit

It used to be ba-ba-baaaah ba-baaaah ba- baaaah

But now it’s ba-ba-baaaah ba-ba-baaaaah ba-baaaah ba-baaaaah

[-]

Maronita2025@reddit

All residential address would be 1 + 10 digits, however, some commercial 800#'s have additional numbers.

For example: Medicare is: 1-800-MED-ICARE (1-800-633-42273)

i-am-jjm@reddit

867-5309 Jenny

[-]

hydraheads@reddit

It's only in recent-ish memory for me that we've had to dial the area code even for local calls

[-]

real415@reddit

That’s the result of overlays where a new area code is overlaid on the original one, so now every call needs to be dialed in full.

real415@reddit

No exceptions today. It’s commonly written for domestic use as (212) 687-9970. The most modern format indicating country code would be +1 (212) 687-9970.

Until the 70s, numbers would have two letters followed by five numbers. MU 6-9970. This is the reason that American telephones have letters on the dial or keypad.

It would common to see them abbreviated, but also in many places like advertising, the number would be spelled out as MUrray Hill 6-9970. Only the first two (capitalized) letters were dialed.

Officially that started to change to all numbers in the early 60s, but some areas like New York City and Philadelphia kept using them a lot longer, even in directories.

Today they’re used mostly to spell out words as mnemonic devices.

[-]

gremel9jan@reddit

~###~

[-]

Yeegis@reddit

+1 (123) 456-7890

Note the +1 is only needed if you’re making an international call.

[-]

peaveyftw@reddit

1 is the country code, (555) is the area code, 555- is the prefix and -5555 is the actual number.

[-]

remes1234@reddit

Apart from a few 3 digit number that are used for various services (911, 811, 411 etc), American phone numbers have 1 for the country code, a 3 digit area code that cover a general area. Lower numbers were originally reserved for large cities, to take less time on rotary phones (212 is Manhattan, 313 is Detroit (one of the larger cities in the US when area codes were made), 213 is LA, 312 is chicago, 202 is DC, etc. the next 3 digit are the exchange, which was supposed to cover a part of the region covered by an area code, and the last 4 digits were the 'subscriber code'. When calling within an area code, you may be able to omit the area and country codes.

[-]

Tommy_Wisseau_burner@reddit

+1 (###)-###-####

[-]

Jujubeee73@reddit

1, then a 3 digit area code, then a 7 digit number.

Until recently, you could just dial the 7 digit part for a local call, but that’s changed a couple years ago.

[-]

ParadoxicalFrog@reddit

Yeah, that's basically how it works.

1 is the country code. We invented the phone, so we get to be first.

The next three digits are an area code, representing what part of the country your number was issued in. We put this in parentheses because you can ignore it if you're calling within the same area code. Some special codes are set aside for certain purposes, like how 800 is for toll-free numbers such as business hotlines.

The next three are an exhange code. This indicates which of the many exchanges handles your call.

The remaining four digits are unique to you within that exchange code.

[-]

beardiac@reddit

There are 2 exceptions to the 10-digit number format.

Emergency/reserved information numbers - 911 is for emergency services in most of the nation. There are similar special cases such as 411 (information), 811 (request for buried utility info), 511 (roadside assistance), etc., that are variably supported regionally.
In some less populous areas, while all numbers still have 3-digit area codes, for local calls you may not need to include it when dialing.

[-]

my_clever-name@reddit

we usually ignore the +1 and use the 10 digits

[-]

TheJokersChild@reddit

(###) ###-#### Country code of 1 if dialing from out of US.

There are exceptions for public-service numbers:

211: Health & Human Services (housing problems/homeless, no heat, can't pay bills)

311: Local government services

411: Directory assistance ("what's this person or business's phone number?")

511: Traffic/travel conditions

611: Your cell phone provider's customer service

711: TTY/hearing-impaired relay

811: "Call before you dig" (to avoid splitting open an underground utility line)

911: Emergency

988: Suicide prevention hotline

[-]

phylter99@reddit

There are short codes and information/emergency numbers, but those are not something regular people use. Regular phone numbers are in the 3-3-4 format. We obviously don't type the country code at the beginning if we're in country.

[-]

wickedpixel1221@reddit

I'll take "easily Googleable questions for $100, Alex"

[-]

Jake_Herr77@reddit

3-3-4 Or +1 xxx-xxx-xxxx

[-]

Curmudgy@reddit

I’m mentioning this again at the top level so it gets seen:

Because of this scam, I always enter the +1 in my contact book. It prevents a foreign number from matching an address book contact accidentally (or deliberately from the scammer’s side).

Afaik, this only applies if you’re callinf from outside the +1 country code area.

[-]

SabresBills69@reddit

Us, Canada, and carribbean follow a 3 digit area code, 3 digit exchange ghen a 4 digit number. The country code is "01"

The exchange numbers were tied yo geographic areas.

When I was a kid I would just dial the final u numbers. If I was dialing yo a place farther away from me but jn same area code, this was local long distance t hst companies would charge extra.

Area codes were created as #-0/1-# format. Thinking about the old roll a where dial is why yhr bigger cities got the easier numbers of 212 fir NYC, 312 abd 312 for Chicago and LA..

With the development of cell phones and pagers and population growth then we're naming out numbers

Cell phone companies had gotten thrir own assigned exchanges but thus later changed with phone number portability.

Some areas did area code splits where they had given a year for businesses to transition to the new area code before numbers were shut down.

Other places did area side overlap where they kept the same territory but have 3 numbers. This created 10 digit dialing for local calls.

[-]

nowheresville99@reddit

Worth noting that until about 25 years ago, you could make local calls using only the last 7 numbers, and you didn't need the 1 and area code unless it was a long distance call. The use of cell phones, thus increasing the number of unique phone numbers needed, and leading to many places having multiple area codes is a big reason for the change.

You'll see it in pop culture in tv and movies from the 90s and earlier where they'll reference a phone number like 555-1234, with the 555 always being a fake exchange that wasn't actually used. They wouldn't use an area code, because it was presumed to be local and you wouldn't need it.

All of North America and the Caribbean uses a single dialing plan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Numbering_Plan

[-]

StupidLemonEater@reddit

You'll usually see them written without the +1 because you don't need to dial it inside the United States. But after that it's always 10 digits, formatted ###-###-####.

The first three digits are the "area code" which corresponds to a particular geographic region (although in the age of cell phones this is often less relevant, e.g. I live in DC now but I still have a Michigan area code from when I lived there). It used to be that you didn't need to dial an area code to make a local call, i.e. the phone system would assume you were calling the same area code the call originated from. This is rare now, but it means that you might still see seven-digit phone numbers, especially in older media.

Since others on here have asked about it before, I'll mention that sometimes you see letters in phone numbers, e.g. 1-800-FLOWERS. Phone keypads have letters assigned to each number (which also used to be used for text messaging, if you're old enough to remember) so for instance to dial 1-800-FLOWERS you would dial 1-800-356-9377. Until the 1960s it was typical for all seven-digit phone numbers to be written with two letters and five numbers, but the first two letters would be read as a word starting with those two letters, e.g. the number KL5-3226 would be read "KLondike 5-3226".

Exceptions to the normal 10-digit phone numbers are service numbers like 911 (emergency), 811 (utility location, i.e. "call before you dig"), 411 (directory assistance), and 988 (suicide prevention). There are also 5 or 6-digit "short code" numbers used by businesses and other organizations for automated SMS, e.g. the audience could vote for American Idol contestants by texting to 21523.

[-]

Mission-Carry-887@reddit

Some sms only numbers are 5 or 6 digits and never start with 1.

+1 is a country code the U.S. shares with 24 other countries and U.S. territories

[-]

SandpaperSlater@reddit

All of them are +1, followed by a 3 digit area code, followed by 7 individual numbers. But we never actually use +1, because since Canada also uses that country code and most of us aren't calling people outside of the country.

So a phone number from western Michigan could be +1 (616) 867-5555

[-]

john_hascall@reddit

Strictly speaking +1 is NANP (the North American Numbering Plan) and is the US, Canada, and some of the Caribbean islands.

[-]

Smurfiette@reddit

+1 (123) 456-7890

1 is the US country code. Ditto for Canada. Number in parentheses is the area code.

Include the +1 if you’re calling the US from outside the US.

When calling a US number within the US:

Using a mobile phone - You may or may not include the +1 if you’re calling from within the US. Either way is fine. All my phone numbers in my iPhone’s Contacts are entered in international format. I just tap on them when calling from within the US.
Using a landline within the US, don’t include the +1.

You don't need the 1 unless dialing out of the country. In the last 20 years, 10 digit dialing is a must in most places. But when I was a kid, you often did not need the area code for local calls.

[-]

ProfessorOfPancakes@reddit

1 - Country code which you don't need to dial if you're in the US

3 digits - area code

It should all by +1 with 10 digits. +1 (XXX) YYY-ZZZZ where XXX is the area code.

However, no one in America will ever use the country code. In fact, many do not even know country codes are a thing because we so rarely dial outside the country

[-]

nkyguy1988@reddit

They are all the same format and length.