I dropped my land line years ago but I was curious so I called it just see if it still disconnected or reused. it was still disconnected. I was just wondering after so many years if the number would ever be reused or forever disconnected? just curious

Just imagine if you had called that number, and you had picked up ....

(Humming soundtrack from “Twilight Zone” .... )

I once had a recently reissued landline number.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

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Slava Ukraini!

Me, too. I was issued the number very shortly after it had been disconnected from the prior owner. The prior owner was a building contractor who had skipped town owing a LOT of people money. I had to convince a bunch of irate callers that I wasn't him.

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What, me worry?

When I had a landline, I would get call’s from MANY creditors looking to get their money, from other people.
Eventually I put the phone on mute and let the answer machine take a message.
So, yes, phone numbers do get reissued.

I lived in a small town in the early 90s and would get calls about dinner reservations. The restaurant had been closed for about 2 years. Not fun when you work night shift and they would call around noon.

Using whatever search engine. type in your full telephone (area code)number and see what you find out about yourself!


999-123-4567

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Still Running Against the Wind

My business line is the old number of a local attorney who died about three years ago. I got it a year after he died, and I wanted that number or another similarly styled number to match our office number in a different town. I still get calls for the lawyer, and I refer decent calls to my attorney friends. I've also gotten a little business myself from those "wrong" numbers . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

I had a similar problem with my current landline, but it was only one very persistent collection agency. Curiously enough, once I took the call and explained the situation they never called back.

Years back we had that problem, one collector would not listen that we were not the party he wanted or even knew that party.

I had his call back number and gave it to my attorney friend/gun club shooter. At that point the collector never called back.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

My late mother in the UK about 20 years ago noticed the telephone repair man removing her line and reconnecting it across the road. She tried her phone and found it dead (just in case she had been incorrect). Tackling the repairman she was told that it was being transferred to a new subscriber. To cut a long story short, all 4'11" and 85 lbs of her hightailed it to the local telephone company and "persuaded" (using the tactic that she was not moving until it was changed back), the company to reconnect her line (she had had the same number since 1944). Needless to say she returned home to find a very irate 6 foot plus man from across the street demanding that the line be reconnected, she told him to talk to the phone company!!. He was not a happy camper!! So it occurs in other places as well. Dave_n

I had the same land line # for 40+ years so when I dropped my landline I had the number ported to my cellphone.

They tend to let them sit disconnected for a period of time, usually 90 days but in high use areas it can be faster. Yours may have been reused several times over that period and it's just coincidence that it was disconnected when you checked.

I had my landline number changed in 2011.

For 7 years I'd get calls from family and collection agency's for some girl named Tammy.

Some guy owing Harley-Davidson for a cycle died and I got his number.

I found his Online obit. and finally got collectors to accept his death.

No idea who got the bike. I'd never heard of him.

My office private line was the same number, different area code, as the VA Hospital in central Texas. I was regularly getting calls checking on patients, and even when told they dialed the wrong area code, they'd still call back. I told one persistent, rude caller that that person had just died - never called back.

Leon, whoever you are and wherever you have roamed, you must be leading an interesting life trying to stay ahead of all those folks who call my wife about you. Your name is part of our family lore now.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

My previous landlines have all been reassigned. I note how many wrong numbers I get with my flip phone. One Sunday afternoon I kept getting text messages, looked like a bunch of kids with Indian names trying to connect with each other.

Not exactly the same thing but, some good friends of mine used to have a number that was one number off from the hospitals emergency number (this is pre 911). They typically got a couple of calls a month for an ambulance. The final straw came when a little kid called and was crying because something had happened to one of his parents. My friends were pretty shook up about it and were finally able to get the phone company (there used to be only one) to change their number.

Something like happened to a friend, in his case number was a very easily remembered one, he said the phone company asked him if they could reassign it to the first aid squad.

Our landline is one off from a Veterinary Hospital and we get their calls sometimes. We politely tell them they miss dialed and tell them what our number is and the number you want is xxx-xxxx. Sometimes they flub it more than once.
Wife has had the landline number since the dark ages.

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NRA LIFE
Reserve Officer 9yrs

I too dropped my land line years ago. I felt dumb for having not done it long before.

Anywho, my cable TV has a new feature that alerts me to incoming phone calls. To my number that I haven't had in years. I assume it's still unassigned and it's just robo calls to all numbers. I thought it Twilight Zone first time it happened. Who'd call my TV?

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I've still got it made.

How many here have dialed 867-5309?

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

I got a new cell phone with a new number last November. I now know the name, former address, social and business contacts of the woman who previously had it. I still get about 2 or 3 texts and 1 or 2 phone calls per week from them. Apparently she relocated and didn't tell a soul she was moving, not even her party friends or her hairdresser. I've been invited to the Outer Banks, skiing at Wintergreen and notified about a hair appointment every month since November. Even though I took a chance and informed the callers and texters that she no longer had this number, more new ones keep on coming. I guess the phone company doesn't wait to reassign a number.

Yes they do reuse them after a few years. I moved last year and it was to a different area code so the phone company assigned a new number. At first I wasn't even going to bother with a land line but I live in a rural area and get a lot of dropped calls on my cell phone.

Anyway, not everyone reports this, but some people I have called tell me that the caller ID that comes up on their phone is a woman's name and not mine. They didn't pick up the first time I called them as they didn't recognize the name so I left a message. Other people tell me that my name shows up on their caller ID function. Weird.

I inherited a company cell phone from my predecessor. (he had been fired for theft!)

About 9PM one night after I'd been there a few weeks, I got a call from a "Gravel voiced broad" telling Gary, that he had been a "Very Very Bad Boy", and she wanted to do something about it. I told her that he quit his job, after he found out he had aids!

Ivan

There's much lower demand for landline numbers these days, so they probably get reused less frequently than they used to. Even many business use VOIP rather than POTS nowadays.

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Or something like that . . .

Since this thread is about phone #'s I have a question.
Years ago I had an 800# Ported into my cell phone & I was charged per call. The bill for 800 # stopped after about 2 years. I finally tracked down the company who was carrying it.
I was told that the original company had changed hands . Then the company that bought the 2nd company changed hands.
I was told that it would cost them (3rd Co.) more $$ to locate it than it was worth so I have a free 888 phone # for life or as long as that phone # which it is ported from is active .
In other words a company could get thousands of Toll free calls @ no charge.
What would the value be if I sold it. It's an 888 #

The phone companies definitely recycle phone numbers. I moved here 14+ years ago and I started getting phone calls for a person I never heard of. He didn't ever live here because I'm the first owner of this house. I was working then so I received a lot of messages that had a tone that sounded like whoever they thought they were calling must have owed them money. I never returned the calls. They stopped for awhile but then started up again. I still refused to return the calls and finally they must have figured out that I wasn't who they were looking for.

Or PEnnsylvania 6-5000?

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What, me worry?

My cell number for many years was only one digit different than someone at the NCAA licensing office.

I got so many calls from businesses wanting to market college T's, caps, etc, that I was giving thought of getting into it!

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GOA
USA Shooting Supporter

Two years after my dermatologist retired his old number went to a fax machine of a litigation attorney.

One day by mistake my cancer hospital faxed her my medical records.

The attorney called me and informed me that what they did violated HIPAA Compliance and suggested that I file a lawsuit against them.

I told her I could care less who had a copy of my medical records and why would I sue the very people who are trying to save my life?? I told her no thank you.

I called my doctor's office and they were soooo apologetic. I told them no worries, just delete the number from their records.

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Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

When I left Maryland to return to PA, I decided I wanted a cell phone with a PA area code. From where I live, the nearest cell phone exchanges were from Hanover. One of them was 634. Being an oldies disk jockey during my misspent youth, I figured I couldn't pass up a chance to have as a phone number 634-5789, which was the title of a record done by Wilson Pickett. Unfortunately the phone company wouldn't do it.

I still have a Landline and still prefer it over cell phones. Whenever I place a call and know I'll be chatting for a while I use my landline. I don't have to deal with battery life, brain radiation, fading calls and simply enjoy my vintage landline phone. Almost ALL phone service today is voice over internet - as most phone Company's no longer support copper wire systems.

I've got 14 extension phones in my home. One is a Candle Stick phone from approximately 1905, one is a Kettle phone from 1934, two are Western Electric dial phones from the 50's and 60's and the rest are somewhat modern corded phones. I do have 5 cordless phones as well but prefer my vintage ones.

Well he wasn't much of an attorney.....

"There is no private cause of action allowed to an individual to sue for a violation of the federal HIPAA or any of its regulations. This means you do not have a right to sue based on a violation of HIPAA by itself. However, you may have a right to sue based on state law."

Remedies for Violation of HIPAA Privacy Rights and Medical Confidentiality.

I still have dial phones in my house too.

NOW THAT"S FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!

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S&W Accumulator

my mother had some questions about her cell phone and the garbage she was getting. I took her to the cell phone store (Verizon) to see if they could do something about. the guy looked in the computer and that stopped the garbage.

I asked him if Verizon recycled numbers and he said that after 6 months it is declared dead and can be reused. he said there was no such thing as a "new" number. I don't know if was with Verizon or everybody else as well but I'm thinking he was talking Verizon. I get a feeling that it is a recycled number. he said he couldn't (or wouldn't) tell who had it before.

I think that how many numbers are available for a particular number would have something to do about that. Hastings is going to use up more numbers than Minden.

I'm kind of glad I have U.S. Cellular because I don't get anything close to the garbage you guys get. I almost feel left out

Land line numbers are not as popular now, so it is not surprising that a number would stay disconnected for a long time if you got rid of it in the last 5 years. I too have had some pretty annoying calls after getting a new number, and it took a while to get fixed (27 years ago).

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NHI, 10-8.

so does a land line number a different coding than a cell phone number?

They generally use different prefixes - first three numbers. You can usually port a landline number to a cellphone, but in many places you can't do the reverse.

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Or something like that . . .

When my wife got her first cell phone, the caller ID showed a John Sheffield was calling. When the phone company was asked how to get it so her name would appear as the caller, she was told it would take about 6 months for the records to be updated and sure enough, it did take about that long for it to be corrected.

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Bill

NPA NXX

I was a telecom manager back when NXX was the phone company central office. Quite simple back then.

Mobile phones have led to mobile numbers. And completely different switching of calls.

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I've still got it made.

When we moved to anew location and knowing I was a telephone person the telephone company gave me a number similar to the local police station. Used to get some interesting calls. One was from a alcoholic who was having DT's. After about the third call from this poor soul who said the bird was preventing him from opening the refrigerator I suggest he give me his name and that l would call the police for him. When I did the dispatcher laughed and said how about you handling this as we are tired of him. Apparently he was a regular complaint that could not handle his liquor. The police have terrible jobs and these people who don't want them have no clue as to what they handle each and every day.