Prefix: Encyclopedia II - Prefix - Telephone prefixes

Prefix - Telephone prefixes

A telephone prefix is the first set of digits of telephone number; in the North American Numbering Plan countries (country code 1), it is the first three digits out of a seven-digit phone number. It shows which exchange the remaining numbers refer to. For example: abc-defg (with actual numbers) might refer to Anytown while cab-defg could refer to Anycity.

Some places restrict certain prefixes to only fax numbers or for cell phones while in other places the prefixes are all jumbled up.

Most (but not all) area codes reserve the prefix 555 for special uses (555-1212 is telephone information in most area codes.) For this reason, it is often used for phone numbers in television and movies. Failure to do so in the film Bruce Almighty resulted in someone's real phone number being used, eventually leading to a lawsuit.

See also: area code

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Telephone prefixes", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki