Good catch! I didn’t know that’s what it was called. Having just looked it up, 555 as an area code and as a prefix are both not in use in the US, other than for directory assistance.
They are just never assigned. I thought they were specifically set aside to be used in fiction, but it seems like that might have just been 555-01XX. But because of the association to that, no one ever wanted a 555 number for anything else and now they are all unused except for 1 number that leads to ‘directory assistance’
Then came along Tommy Tutone and fucked a whole host of phones for a good part of 30+ years.
When we’d first get calls at 2 or 3 in the morning, my husband would answer the phone. He can’t hear too well. They’d ask for Jenny, and he’d say “Jimmy doesn’t live here any more.” … Tommy Tutone was the one who had the record. I’d like to get hold of his neck and choke him.
— Lorene Burns, an Alabama householder formerly at +1-205-867-5309; she changed her number in 1982
555 is the part of the number called the prefix
Good catch! I didn’t know that’s what it was called. Having just looked it up, 555 as an area code and as a prefix are both not in use in the US, other than for directory assistance.
Is there some technical reason why it doesn’t work, or is it just… never assigned?
They are just never assigned. I thought they were specifically set aside to be used in fiction, but it seems like that might have just been 555-01XX. But because of the association to that, no one ever wanted a 555 number for anything else and now they are all unused except for 1 number that leads to ‘directory assistance’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_(telephone_number)
Then came along Tommy Tutone and fucked a whole host of phones for a good part of 30+ years.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/867-5309/Jenny#Popularity_and_litigation