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You may have heard some interesting and already common facts about mobile phones on occasion. But what about the phone numbers that give you that unique mobile identity and make using your phone possible. Here’s ten great facts that you may have never heard before:

10. Invention of Phone numbers

Before their invention, phone calls were made by dialing the phone service first and requesting a phone operator sitting on the other end with various lines used to connect us to the person we wanted to contact. This was all fine and dandy until the process was questioned by Alexander Bell’s (the inventor of the phone himself) friend Dr. Moses. Because the town was infected with an epidemic of measles, the doctor advised initiating a new system without involving these operators for if any one of them fell ill, the others would find it difficult to understand the system and keep it running. Hence, the system of names was replaced by numbers dialed directly by the callers themselves.

9. The very first Area code

The very first area code to be established was in New Jersey in 1951, which was labeled 201. The area codes in use now are an advanced and evolved version of the “North American Numbering” plan, in which the areas were numbered according to the ratio of their population. The one having the largest was given the simplest dial code for a rotary phone and it started with codes for 90 areas. Urban areas like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago got the codes 212, 213, and 312, respectively, and whereas more rural areas were given codes like 915, 913, etc.

8. The Most Expensive phone number

666-6666 holds the record for most expensive number after being sold in Qatar for $207 million to raise money for charity. This number blows away the previous record held by 888-8888 sold in China for $280,000.

7. Apple related to 888-8888

It is said that Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, had a thing for repetitive digits. It was because of his fondness for such numbers that he sold the Apple I for $666.66. This fondness, as legend has it, also led him to buy the second most expensive number in the world. The only drawback to the fantastic phone number was the hundreds of prank calls it received every day. While most of them were not of a malicious nature, there some particularly spiteful ones that may taken a toll on any man.

6. Emergency Numbers

Different countries have various emergency numbers, for example 911 is the standard emergency number used in U.S. It was first pronounced as “nine eleven”, however the confusion of many users who searched for the “11” key on the dialer, led to it being changed to “nine one one”. In U.K, the number is “nine nine nine”; whereas Europe, you would dial 112 in emergency.

Before the system of a single number for emergency calls was introduced, people used to call the operators to direct them to the relevant emergency service. There are still some fire services in the U.S which can also be reached by dialing “3 4 7 3”, which spells “F-I-R-E”.

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