I’m old enough to remember when we only had to dial five digits to complete a call on our rotary telephone that was attached to the wall by a wire. Of course, I’m old enough to remember operator-assisted calls and party lines, too.
When Phone Calls Were Simpler
By the late 1950s, Bell Telephone began requiring seven digits. In New Bedford, it meant a local call required dialing the digits 9-9 before dialing the five-digit phone number.
Extra numbers!
It wasn’t so bad once push-button phones were introduced, but dialing extra numbers on a rotary phone was work, especially “9s.”
Why 10-Digit Dialing Became Necessary
Mandatory 10-digit dialing in Massachusetts became a thing 25 years ago on April 2, 2001. That meant dialing the area code – in our case 508 – before the prefix and main phone number…