Allstate Insurance

[depechemodefan]

A patron calls wanting phone numbers for renter insurance. Meaning, phone numbers to companies that offer renter insurance, instead of, maybe, a state dept. that might regulate it, or anything else.

anyway, why don't people look in the freakin' phone book? What do they do with the things? These books come to a house once a year. And if you move usually the phone company will send you one.

So I look up some companies, and she doesn't want Farmers. I give her the number to Geico and Allstate. Allstate's number is very simple, it's 1-800-Allstate. Of course, the moron wants me to give her the numbers, no the letters because her phone doens't have letters ok, I need to take a poll on phones that don't have letters. But the thing is everyone who gets a number from me that is made up of numbers say they don't have letters on their phone. I think the patrons are just lazy.

So I enumerate. And Allstate=8 numbers. So the woman argues with me that that isn't right. I tell her that is correct, that she should try to call that number. She wanted a supervisor. My super happens to be here with me, answering phones. By the time I go get her the patron hangs up.

Stupid 8 digit (not counting area code) numbers.

[KiaKat]

I've always wondered about those. Is the last number automatically dropped, or is it really an 8 (or 11) digit number?

[CorDarei]

alot of the times i have numbers i redial after i hit 2 for an extension (making the phone think it's dialing 11 digits, including area code) and it always drops the last #... so i wouldn't be surprised if it just drops the last 3.... but then, i don't want to test it :P

[Javarod]

Phone systems typically ignore that last digit, although not always. I've had Allstate for years, and i had one cellphone that wouldn't call the 800 number unless i dropped the last E.

[Byronthebanker]

My Blackberry Curve 8310 doesn't have the letters - 1 time I was near my computer and googled an image of a phone keypad to peek. Today I wanted to call Carnival Cruise lines - and luckily got it right by thinking .. hmm . the 2 is ABC, and then 3 is DEF . .

Note: there is probably a feature somewhere on a blackberry that does something to translate the letters / numbers - I just haven't found it

[Chromatix]

It is actually difficult to find phones now that don't have the letters attached to the numbers. I checked - my iPhone and Skype keypads have it, those being the two phones I still own which don't need the keypad letters simply for SMS.

The Blackberry is a special case, because it's keypad is in the middle of a full QWERTY keyboard, which doesn't have enough space on the keys for three *more* letters.

The British phone system is interesting, because it has variable-length area codes and numbers. Under the old (to early 1980s at least) system, London had "01" as the area code, this being the shortest possible - the initial "0" identified the number as an area code, since no local number would start with that. Other large cities had "0x1", for example Liverpool with "051".

Some very rural areas, such as villages in Cumbria, could have area codes as long as or longer than their internal numbers (which were only as long as necessary for the size of the place), and usually these were based on mnemonics. Indeed, you will notice that the 5 in "051" corresponds to L for Liverpool. Manchester used 061 for the same reason. Newcastle wouldn't fit for "N", so they used the "W" instead for 091.

In Britain, letter-mnemonics were rarely used for entire phone numbers, only for area codes. The occasional exception was made for Freephone and Lo-Call non-geographic numbers. This did mean that you could say "Hawkshead 4567" instead of giving the entire area code for Hawkshead. If you couldn't remember the right mnemonic to use, you could look that up easily enough.

The practical upshot was that automatic exchanges needed to interpret the number as it was transmitted, and then immediately hand off the interpretation for the local part to the other exchange - in less time than it took the caller to rewind the dial for the next digit. Digital exchanges made this a lot easier, of course, as well as permitting DTMF. But as soon as the last digit was dialled, the call would be connected, and any further digits would indeed be ignored, unless the number happened to be on a PBX.

There were some special numbers which were deliberately shortened further than usual. One of the most important is 0800-1111, which is ChildLine. You can just imagine the special arrangements in the exchange machinery to accommodate that!

At some point, London outgrew it's big-city 7-digit phone numbers, and was split into two area codes - 071 for Greater London and 081 for Central London. Each area kept the old numbers, but could now re-use the ones that had been migrated to the other code. Mobile phones, which were just appearing at this point, would use an 07 prefix as well - reflecting the fact that they were not tied to any particular city - but not 071.

Shortly afterwards, it was decided that more area codes would be needed, so all codes were changes to start with "01" instead of "0" - making use of the huge gap left by the old London code. So Liverpool is now "0151". Mobiles still begin with "07xxx", and the "non-geographical" numbers (0800 etc.) were also not changed. I think "01-day" was in 1991, so you can easily determine when somebody has failed to update their advertising since before then... and I still have a plastic shopping bag from before then.

London has now gone back to one area code - with 8-digit numbers. If you had 0171, you now have 020-7, and if you had 0181, you now have 020-8. Using the rest of the available leading digits allows for the overflow to be contained, but for the remaining "old" numbers, you can immediately work out whether it's in inner or outer London. I think a similar trick was done for Leeds and one or two other large, growing cities, which now have area codes beginning with "011".

[Bramblerose]

But the thing is everyone who gets a number from me that is made up of numbers say they don't have letters on their phone. I think the patrons are just lazy.

Mother has worn them off her keypad. I've done it, too. I can 10-key and lay hands on another phonepad here.

[ArcticChicken]

The British phone system is interesting
<snip>
which now have area codes beginning with "011".

....Why do you know that?

[Chromatix]

....Why do you know that?

I have been described as a walking encyclopaedia before.

[depechemodefan]

My Blackberry Curve 8310 doesn't have the letters -

Mother has worn them off her keypad. I've done it, too. I can 10-key and lay hands on another phonepad here.

Unfortunately, I'm so use to people coming in and can't do anything, like type ("I'm a slow typer/I can't type, can you type my resume for me?") I became too cynical to think people have a legitamite reason to ask for help with a phone keypad.

[godaistudios]

My Blackberry Curve 8310 doesn't have the letters - 1 time I was near my computer and googled an image of a phone keypad to peek. Today I wanted to call Carnival Cruise lines - and luckily got it right by thinking .. hmm . the 2 is ABC, and then 3 is DEF . .

Note: there is probably a feature somewhere on a blackberry that does something to translate the letters / numbers - I just haven't found it

Here is where my job comes in handy.

Hold down the ALT key in the lower left to input a letter instead of a number when dialing.

I have an 8320 - and I love my phone to death. I love it even more now that I got the 4.5 software on it. Video capture and html support for email makes me happy. Oh, and it plays youtube videos.