Telephone numbers may seem as though they’re simply randomly assigned strings of digits, but in actuality, the numbers themselves can tell us an awful lot about the location of the caller. True, a cellular phone can maintain its assigned number no matter where it is calling from, but in the case of land lines, the assigned number can tell about the country, state or region, and city.
Think of telephone numbers in a similar way to IP addresses assigned to computers using the internet. It’s an identification for the home or business with which it is associated.
Within the United States, all telephone numbers are 10 digits long, with a country code of “1” (shared with Canada). This system was created by AT&T in 1947 and is called the 3-3-4 Scheme. This pattern utilizes three different blocks of numbers which are broken down into two blocks of three and a block of four.
The first three digits of the telephone number are the area code. This code is regulated by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), and are used to designed a region, such as a state, part of a state, or a city.
The second group of three digits is called the Prefix of the telephone number. Traditionally, this number was referred to as the Switch of the telephone number, and connected the telephone line to an actual switch when phone systems worked that way. This was because the central office of a phone carrier would be assigned a unique three-digit number. However, these days, switches are computerized and local number portability (LNP) is now commonly possible. Therefore, even if a customer moves into a different local area, the prefix may remain the same. This is only possible as long as the customer remains within the local-rate area.
To know where a caller is phoning from, you simply need to look up the area code and find out what it represents. Then, have a look at the prefix – though the odds are that it will tell you exactly which city or part of a city the person is calling from, it may have moved from its original location. It will, however, tell you which local calling region the number belongs to.