What is the connection between area and phone number?

Question

What is the connection between area and phone number? Not area code but the first 3 digits. For example a my number could be 1-(222)-333-4444. Now, most of my neighbors and people in the area also have 333 before their last 4 digits. Is there some sort of data base where I can look up these 333 types and see what general city or area the number is from other than of course the area code? Thanks!

NOT AREA CODE

Answer 1

In the old days (and in some countries , even now) all telephone switching was done via mechanical relays.

Each number in the phone number represents a switch center closer to your home.

So 333 may simply be a switch center that serves numbers 0001 to 9999.

For security reasons, I doubt you will find any public data on telephone switch centers.

Answer 2

Some of the search engines like Yahoo or Lycos, just type in "area code XXX" (the X's being the area code) and it'll tell you the general location. There may also be connections to help you find the exact city.

Answer 3

If you live in Canada, those numbers should be in the phone book. But, there is not obvious connection.