555 (telephone number)

File:Ghostbusters 555 2368.jpg

The oft-used fictional phone number 555-2368, as seen in the movie Ghostbusters

In North America, telephone numbers with the prefix 555 are widely used for fictitious telephone numbers in television shows, films, computer games, and other media.

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 intersect with the many uses of 555-2368 (one of the more commonly used fake numbers) by AT&T and other telephone companies, remains unknown.

Area code 555 in the North American Numbering Plan is reserved for Directory Assistance applications.

It is also the support number for Caplin Systems in London.

In Media

The phone companies began 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 Panic in Year Zero! (1962), with 555-2106. 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 and numbers in phone numbers. More recent works set in this period typically use this convention as well. For example, Dr. Emmett Brown's 1955 phone number in Back to the Future is "KLondike 5-4385".

The number "2368" is a carryover from "EXchange 2368", which was common in old telephone advertisements. This represents "Exchange Central", with 2368 being the numeric version of "CENTral" in alphabetic dialing.

Before "555" or "KLondike-5" gained broad usage, and before touchtone phones became standard, scriptwriters would sometimes invent fake exchanges starting with words like "QUincy" or "Zebra". The letters "Q" and "Z" were not used on the old dial phones.

In some fictional works, the characters are aware of "555" numbers being fake. For instance:

• In an episode of NewsRadio, a woman gives lead character Jimmy James, who is interested in dating her, a 555 number. After a moment, he realizes "that's one of those fake telephone numbers!"
• In the movie Last Action Hero, the character Danny tries to convince Jack Slater that his world is not real by telling him that since all phone numbers use 555 there would only be 10,000 possible numbers. Slater remains unconvinced, citing the use of area codes as a solution.
• In the novel Crooked Little Vein, the White House Chief of Staff tells the protagonist to call the number (555) 555-5555 after completing a job. When the character points out the number seems to be fake, the Chief of Staff cryptically tells him "It works for us."
• In The Simpsons episode "Burns Baby Burns", Homer is negotiating on the phone with Chief Wiggum about the fake kidnapping of Larry. Chief Wiggum is tracing the call and once he prints out the number, he reads it aloud only getting as far as 555 itself before scrunching up the paper and citing "That's gotta be fake."
• In The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Ford tells a woman: "Write down my number, it's 555-6321." She replies: "5-5-5's not a real number, they only use that in the movies." He responds: "What do you think this is, real life?"
• In Family Guy, in the Episode "Three Kings", which is largely themed on Stephen King Movies (like The Simpsons does for Halloween), there is a monologue in Joe's Head where two people are arranging to meet up, and one give his number as 555, the other then calls him on it, as being a fake number

Real uses of 555 numbers

Throughout North America, 1-XXX-555-1212 will connect to directory assistance for the specified XXX area code and 1-800-555-1111 will connect to a Bell Canada operator.

Also, in some areas of cellphone reception, 1-800-555-1234, a commonly used fictional number, may reach a number that claims to be in use by the IRS.

In 1994, the North American Numbering Plan Administration began accepting applications for nationwide 555 numbers (outside the fictitious 555-01XX range). This would mean that a consumer from any area code could dial a seven-digit number such as 555-TAXI, and the owners of that number could connect the call to a local car service. However, according to a 2003 New York Times article, the desired functionality requires the cooperation of local phone authorities, and most phone companies have been reluctant to cooperate. Despite the fact that the service is virtually unavailable so far, most of the available 555 numbers have already been reserved.

In addition, it is important to remember that 555 use is only restricted in North America. Neglecting this fact resulted in a lawsuit in the late 1980s: in his daily The Far Side panel, cartoonist Gary Larson included a graffiti of a 555 number by which prank calls could be made to Satan. When the panel was printed in Australia (where 555 is a standard exchange), the owner of the 555 number became the subject of much harassment, and sued Larson and his syndicate for defamation.

See also

• Fictitious telephone number
• Fictitious domain name
• example.com

Similar recurring uses:

• 2GAT123 - fictitious license plate number
• Acme Corporation - fictitious company 'that makes everything'
• Channel 37 - fictitious TV station
• Heisler Beer - fictitious beer brand used in television and films
• Morley - fictitious cigarette brand used in television and films
• Oceanic Airlines - fictitious airline used in television and films
• Hobbs End - a fictitious location used in several films

References

• Personal 555 Number Is Still Mostly Fiction
• Why doesn't the phone company use the "555" prefix?
• TV Acres Compilation of 555 numbers in movies

External links

• An extensive list of 555 numbers given in movies and TV shows
• 555 SPOT: a growing list of 555 numbers
• North American Number Plan - page on 555 Numbers
• CNAC list of Canadian 555-xxxx information providers
• The Straight Dope, Why do phone numbers in TV shows and movies all start with 555?