# New info on 555 numbers

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-info-on-555-numbers/291449>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [February 23, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-info-on-555-numbers/291449 "2005-02-23T01:07:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![watsondog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@watsondog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watsondog)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-info-on-555-numbers/291449/1 "2005-02-23T01:07:50Z")

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This is in relation to this article:

[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_374a.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_374a.html)

Apparently, the North American Numbering Plan Association have been offering 555 numbers to private individuals for over 10 years now. It would theoretically allow a seven-digit number to be dialled countrywide and reach the same individual.

According to this article:

> **[Personal 555 Number Is Still Mostly Fiction (Published 2003)](https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/06/technology/personal-555-number-is-still-mostly-fiction.html)**
>
> Telephone prefix 555 has been preserved for years for special uses; in 1994, North American Numbering Plan, contractor to FCC, began accepting applications for these numbers, which were meant to be dialed nationally without regard to area code;...

it’s never worked quite as planned, but 200 of them are currently working, which means that although Kojak won’t be there, somebody other than the phone company might be.

A list of assigned 555 numbers can be found at:

[http://www.nanpa.com/nas/public/form555MasterReport.do?method=display555MasterReport](http://www.nanpa.com/nas/public/form555MasterReport.do?method=display555MasterReport)

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**Author:** ![AZCowboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/97f17d/32.png) [@AZCowboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AZCowboy)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-info-on-555-numbers/291449/2 "2005-02-23T04:58:25Z")

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From the NY Times article:

> [@](#):
>
> He had harsher words for the Verizon Easy Number Deluxe service, which carries a $2,500 service establishment fee for each local access transport area - a term that usually means one area code - in which the number is activated.

Nitpick. A Local Access Transport Area (LATA) is definitely not a term that usually means one area code.

> [@](#):
>
> “It’s predatory, absurd and concocted,” Mr. Bartels said of the Verizon service, “and I wouldn’t touch it with an 11-foot pole.”

Predatory? How?

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-info-on-555-numbers/291449/3 "2005-02-23T05:28:54Z")

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> [@AZCowboy](#):
>
> Predatory? How?

$2500 for a phone number? “Hey, Tony, we got a live one here!” :rolleyes:

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**Author:** ![AZCowboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/97f17d/32.png) [@AZCowboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AZCowboy)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-info-on-555-numbers/291449/4 "2005-02-24T04:35:41Z")

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The phone number was free.

It’s specialized phone service they want. What competitor is harmed by Verizon’s pricing? Should the government compel Verizon to provide 555 service at some other rate?

I don’t get it.