Where did 555 come from for phony phone numbers?

Question

Why is 555 the number to signal a fake phone number in movies and TV, and why doesn't it work when dialed?

Answer 1

It was originally used in TV and movies since there was no actual 'home' 555 prefixes. That is no longer the case. There are many 555 prefixes now, especially on toll free numbers, not just for information like 555-1212, but for business purposes. Even MCI uses 700-555-4141 to identify what long distance carrier you have.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

The use of 555 in cinema stems from an earlier derivation than supposed phone company promotions in the 1970s - having been used in many films from 1930s, or earlier, onwards.

One of the main reasons the prefix exists is to avoid accidentally using real phone numbers in movies and television programs because viewers frequently call the numbers used. An example of this situation is with the 2003 film Bruce Almighty. The makers of the movie opted not to use the prefix, and several people whose phone numbers matched one mentioned in the film were inundated with callers asking for "God", and the number was edited out for television airings of the movie and on most copies of the DVD


The phone companies started encouraging the producers of television shows and movies to use the 555 prefix for fictional telephone numbers, roughly during the 1970s. One of the earliest uses of a 555 number can be seen in A Patch of Blue (1965), with 555-2368. In older television shows from the 1950s or 1960s, "KLondike 5" or "KLamath 5" was used, as at the time the telephone exchanges used letters.

In the original Twilight Zone television series, the episode "Person or Persons Unknown," broadcast in March 1962, featured David Gurney making a phone call to KLondike 5-3472 (555-3472).

Not all numbers that begin with 555 are fictional—for example, 555-1212 is one of the standard numbers for directory assistance throughout the United States and Canada. In fact, only 555-0100 through 555-0199 are now specifically reserved for fictional use, with the other numbers having been released for actual assignment. How, exactly, this will interact with the many uses of 555-2368 (long the "standard" fake number) by AT&T and other telephone companies, is no clearer than the reason for the choice of "2368".

Answer 4

They use the 555 prefix so they don't accidentally give out someone's private phone number. The only phone number that I know of that has the 555 prefix is directory assistance which is Area Code + 555-1212

Answer 5

I knew a guy who had a 555-xxxx land line number for years. But it is very common.