Be careful with those fake phone numbers
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We all know that movies and TV shows always use phone numbers that start with "555" because there are no real phone numbers like that. At least that's what a developer thought while working on a game called "The Last of Us"
Naughty Dog removing The Last of Us' accidental phone sex number
Turns out 555 doesn't make it fake enough
But, apparently, that's not the case for an "800" number -- the numbers that appear in the game are real phone-sex numbers. [quote user=""] They put some phone numbers in the game and then they thought they could just change the area code to 555, then it's invalid because it's what they do in movies[/quote] Extra bonus WTF for not knowing that the 555 is not the "area code".
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Why not just give a 7-digit number? That way, at least you distribute the random phone calls across 1000 phone numbers.
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@Wikipedia said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_area_code
only 555-0100 through 555-0199 are now specifically reserved for fictional use - except for the 800 area code where only 800-555-0199 is reserved - the other numbers have been released for actual assignment.
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@El_Heffe said:
@Wikipedia said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_area_code
only 555-0100 through 555-0199 are now specifically reserved for
fictional use - except for the 800 area code where only 800-555-0199 is
reserved - the other numbers have been released for actual assignment.You know, it seems a bit stupid to say "Here, use this fictional prefix" and let movies and TV shows do it for 40 years, then be like "Oh, guess we're going to assign most of those numbers, anyway!"
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@morbiuswilters said:
@El_Heffe said:
@Wikipedia said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_area_code
only 555-0100 through 555-0199 are now specifically reserved for fictional use - except for the 800 area code where only 800-555-0199 is reserved - the other numbers have been released for actual assignment.
You know, it seems a bit stupid to say "Here, use this fictional prefix" and let movies and TV shows do it for 40 years, then be like "Oh, guess we're going to assign most of those numbers, anyway!"
It happened here in the UK... a whole bunch of 07 numbers were reserved for fictional mobile numbers (07 being the mobile leader) and then later the number was reduced from 10,000 combinations down to 1,000 and the rest assigned to real people. 01642 is still entirely reserved though since 642 isn't a real exchange.
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@CaffeinatedNoms said:
01642 is still entirely reserved though since 642 isn't a real exchange.
There are quite a few ranges. 01642 ain't on that list though. Did you mean 01632, since 01642 is actually Middlesbrough.
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@PJH said:
@CaffeinatedNoms said:
01642 is still entirely reserved though since 642 isn't a real exchange.
There are quite a few ranges. 01642 ain't on that list though. Did you mean 01632, since 01642 is actually Middlesbrough.Yes, yes I did.
Although why anyone would want to call Middlesbrough is an entirely different question.
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@CaffeinatedNoms said:
Although why anyone would want to call Middlesbrough is an entirely different question.
For the awesome phone sex.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/YviMyvT.png[/IMG]
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@morbiuswilters said:
@El_Heffe said:
Particularly when the video of those old movies and TV shows is still out there, circulating. (I recall seeing a "real" phone number on a first-season episode of "Bewitched", on the Realtor's sign stuck into the lawn of the house Darren and Samantha end up moving into.)@Wikipedia said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_area_code
only 555-0100 through 555-0199 are now specifically reserved for fictional use - except for the 800 area code where only 800-555-0199 is reserved - the other numbers have been released for actual assignment.
You know, it seems a bit stupid to say "Here, use this fictional prefix" and let movies and TV shows do it for 40 years, then be like "Oh, guess we're going to assign most of those numbers, anyway!"
What they should do instead, although it leads to stewardship problems in the long run, is what "How I Met Your Mother" did regarding website URLs mentioned on the show: use a number or address the producers have registered to themselves, and stick promotional stuff at the other end for the people bored enough to try it.
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@da Doctah said:
(I recall seeing a "real" phone number on a first-season episode of "Bewitched", on the Realtor's sign stuck into the lawn of the house Darren and Samantha end up moving into.)
They should have been using "real" numbers all along. How hard would it be to just install a phone line somewhere, it doesn't even have to have a phone connected to it, and use that number. Then you don't have to worry about the phone company giving someone your fake number.
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@El_Heffe said:
How hard would it be to just install a phone line somewhere, it doesn't even have to have a phone connected to it, and use that number.
How hard would it be for them to continue paying the rental on that number for, say, twenty years? Thirty years? Presuming, of course, that the production company are still around then, or haven't belt-tightened to the point where they can't be bothered continuing to pay for something when they had the opportunity to use something that didn't cost anything.
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@PJH said:
@El_Heffe said:
How hard would it be to just install a phone line somewhere, it doesn't even have to have a phone connected to it, and use that number.
How hard would it be for them to continue paying the rental on that number for, say, twenty years? Thirty years? Presuming, of course, that the production company are still around then, or haven't belt-tightened to the point where they can't be bothered continuing to pay for something when they had the opportunity to use something that didn't cost anything.The easiest solutions to me always seemed to be:
- Just don't use a real phone number. Who cares if your phone number has too few digits? Anyone that would care is such a giant douche that I want to go out of my way just to piss them off.
- Use the phone number for the movie studio's switchboard. Sure, they'd get some stupid calls, but if you think Warner Bros. doesn't already get a bunch of stupid calls, you don't realize how many fast food employees consider themselves "screenwriters". What happens if the movie studio goes under or changes phone numbers? Then the phone company just disconnects the line and doesn't resell it. How many phone numbers would they lose this way? A few a year, at most?
- Use an international number. Then at least if the little jackasses decide to call the number, they're connected to Madagascar and have to pay $3 /minute for the pleasure. And I'm sure Madagascar would love to have the money; taking calls from retarded movie patrons could become their main industry.
Boom! See that? Three solutions to what phone numbers to use in movies/TV/video games that are better than what the industries use now. Shit, I guess I'm smarter than all the screenwriters in Hollywood. Now if I could only get Warner Bros. to return my calls..
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@PJH said:
How hard would it be for them to continue paying the rental on that number for, say, twenty years? Thirty years?
The total cost over 30 years would be less (substantially less) than what they pay 1 actor for 1 espisode of a typical TV show.
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@El_Heffe said:
Which presumes (1) that they can pay 40 years up front and (2) that the phone company itself will be around (and have kept records for such) for that long.@PJH said:
How hard would it be for them to continue paying the rental on that number for, say, twenty years? Thirty years?
The total cost over 30 years would be less (substantially less) than what they pay 1 actor for 1 espisode of a typical TV show.
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"When we'd first get calls at 2 or 3 in the morning, my husband would answer the phone. He can't hear too well. They'd ask for Jenny and he'd say 'Jimmy doesn't live here any more.'... Tommy Tutone was the one who had the record. I'd like to get hold of his neck and choke him."
—Mrs. Lorene Burns, random Alabama householder formerly at +1-205-867-5309, disconnected in 1982.[
