Without Googling, do you know this Final Jeopardy question?

[Frylock]

Wait. You have to dial ten digits in some areas?

Learn something new every day…

[Justin_Bailey]

@Lunar_Saltlick

What exactly did the three contestants answer?

Two answered “area code” and one answered “fax code”

[middleman]

What is weird, is when you move from an overlay city (Houston) to a city with seven digit dialing (Austin). I have been dialing ten digits for so long, anytime I dial a number on my home line (rarely thanks to cell phones), I inevitably get a message telling me not to use my area code. (Why not just connect it if you know who I am trying to dial, phone company?!)

But what is even weirder is when people give me a number, I am thinking “that’s missing some numbers!” or when I give my number (with the area code), they look at me like I am an idiot.

A little bit of a hijack, but I needed to get that off my chest.

As for the question, I misread the answer and thought it said 1922. I thought it was OBVIOUSLY “area code.” Even had I read the question right, I would never have known “overlay.”

[Two_Many_Cats]

@Fiddle_Peghead

I’m guessing that it’s because people who get the new area code are most likely young and new to the city, and certain long-time New Yorkers like to do look down on the “intruders.”

That’s hilarious considering Marshall Field’s is now Macy’s.

(And yes, I know that company isn’t run by New Yorkers. But still, it pisses me off. It should piss off New Yorkers too because it makes them look bad.)

[Sigmagirl]

@Justin_Bailey

Two answered “area code” and one answered “fax code”

That’s right; sorry. He knew it wasn’t right, either.

[Justin_Bailey]

@middleman

What is weird, is when you move from an overlay city (Houston) to a city with seven digit dialing (Austin). I have been dialing ten digits for so long, anytime I dial a number on my home line (rarely thanks to cell phones), I inevitably get a message telling me not to use my area code. (Why not just connect it if you know who I am trying to dial, phone company?!)

Weird. I’m in a 7-digit area and the phone company around here has no problem accepting a 10-digit phone number.

[Skywatcher]

@fusoya

917 is not just for cellphones. My landlord’s house line is a 917 #.

571 started out as a dedicated overlay code for cellphones and pagers in northern Virginia but now includes land lines; the old 703 that had been exclusively for land lines is now used for cells and pagers as well.

[suranyi]

@Justin_Bailey

In today’s (4/22/10) Final Jeopardy, I thought this was super easy and can’t believe all three blew it.

Category: Telecommunications Technology

Answer: In 1992, New York City received the first one of these, 917.

Question:

[spoiler]What is overlay area code?

There was an entire Seinfeld episode about it! It’s happened in nearly every slightly large-sized metro area! How did all three blow it?[/spoiler]

(I hope it’s OK to reference this part of the spoiler, which isn’t really a spoiler.)

It hasn’t happened in every slightly large-sized metro area. I don’t think it’s happened in California. It definitely hasn’t happened in the Bay Area. We can still use 7-digit dialing here.

[Cat_Fight]

@Justin_Bailey

Two answered “area code” and one answered “fax code”

I can’t believe it took 'til 1992 to get one!

I didn’t get this, and I watch a lot of Seinfeld and have lived in New York.

[pravnik]

@Leaffan

We have 10 digit dialing here; I’ve never heard the term “overlay” before.

Same here.

[Justin_Bailey]

@suranyi

It hasn’t happened in every slightly large-sized metro area. I don’t think it’s happened in California. It definitely hasn’t happened in the Bay Area. We can still use 7-digit dialing here.

While California seems to avoid overlays, all of the area codes in large cities have split multiple times in the last 20 years. Sure, it’s not exactly an overlay, but it’s close.

[obfusciatrist]

I know what it was, I just wouldn’t have known what it was called.

[Markxxx]

I got it on second glance. My first thought was email. But then I said, “no emails must’ve been around longer,” then I saw telecommunications and thought “Ah area code.”

So I probably would’ve missed it on Jeopardy

[Walloon]

New York Times, April 19, 1990, p. B1:

Additional Area Code Is Planned In New York

New York Telephone Company officials said yesterday that they plan to introduce an additional area code to New York City within two to three years.…

‘Overlay’ May Be Costly

One possible solution to the shortage of telephone numbers is to assign the additional area code to customers who use cellular phones and beepers in the geographical territory served by the 212 code. That approach, which is called an “overlay” because the new code would be “laid over” the 212 area, would require use of the 917 code for calls placed to some customers in the current 212 area code.

[luv2draw]

What’s Seinfeld?

[Walloon]

Los Angeles Times, June 24, 2005:

The 310 May Face Two Options: Split or Overlay

Once again, the 310 area code is running out of numbers.

The state Public Utilities Commission has used conservation methods to ease the telephone problem, but officials say a more drastic solution — overlaying the whole western Los Angeles County area with an additional code or splitting the area into two codes — probably will be needed soon.

USA Today, July 18, 2003:

Telecom woes slow need for new area codes

Remember the good old days of the stock, telecom and dot-com booms — and annoying new area codes?

From 1995 to 2001, fresh area codes seemed to pop up as often as initial stock offerings, with regulators doling out 166, including 21 in 2001. Citizens were up in arms about the loss of their numerical identities, the hassle of dialing 10 digits to call a neighbor and the need to change business cards.…

Two years ago, Philadelphia (215) was projected to need a fresh 445 code by this year. The date got pushed to 2005 last year, and now it’s 2008.

Similarly, the Seattle region’s new-area-code D-Day was bumped from 2008 last year to an irrelevant 2016 this year. “People thought it was ridiculous to have to go to 10-digit dialing when they’d be in a town of 4,000 people,” says Glenn Blackmon of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. “We found hundreds of thousands of unused telephone numbers.”

Other areas winning projected new-code reprieves include Atlanta (from 2006 to 2009), Denver (2007 to 2019) and Tampa (2008 to 2013).

Virtually all the cities planned “overlay” area codes, which means new customers in the region would get the new code wherever they live. That lets old customers keep the old code but forces everyone to dial 10 digits for local calls. Until recently, the favored method was a geographic split, banishing New York City residents outside Manhattan, for example, from 212 to 718.