Talk:1129: Cell Number

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 13:45, 2 November 2012 by Joehammer79 (talk | contribs)
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I guess this has something to do with keeping your phone number even when switching providers? We got a law in Norway around that time, which says you're able to keep your phone number while switching. Only difference is that here you can only tell, from the first two of eight digits, which provider you had in 2005 (or whenever it took effect). --Buggz (talk) 08:31, 2 November 2012 (UTC)
It probably does. There is no mention of 2005 in American Numbering Plan wikipedia article ... seems it's the part needing explanation the most. -- Hkmaly (talk) 08:38, 2 November 2012 (UTC)
According to wikipedia, mobile number portability was implemented in the USA in 2003.11.24. The comic would make sense with 2003, but why 2005? Maybe it only caught on enough in 2005: http://www.pyramidresearch.com/pa_may26_mnp.htm
One reason for switching to a new "local" number would be so that those who have land lines aren't making "long-distance" phone calls to your cell phone. My brother just recently moved back from the east coast and is keeping his same cell phone number, which doesn't affect my other siblings and myself because we only use cell phones (which only count the number of minutes used). But my mom still uses land lines most of the time and so she's being billed for a long-distance call whenever she calls him, even though he lives about a mile away from her. But since most people are ditching the land lines, I think it'll be a moot point in about 5-10 years. --Joehammer79 (talk) 13:45, 2 November 2012 (UTC)