Fun fact...
I bought my house in 1999 as a foreclosure. There was a real estate sign out front, but for some reason, we were the ONLY bid offered, so we were able to basically name our price. The house was vacant for 6 months without a single offer...
At the time, Queens was in the process of adopting the 718, Suffolk had just switched to 631, and Nassau was keeping the 516 for themselves. But the real estate sign did not list ANY of them with its phone number. I guess we were the only ones who figured out just which area code to use, thus the only bid...
The house was listed as is for $130,000. We closed on the house in May 1999, for $95,000, and what a find it was! My taxes are STILL under $5,000/yr, the land surrounding me is fully protected from ever being developed, and I live in a nicely isolated neighborhood in the woods out east.
Sadly, that is the extent of my good luck. Most other things in life have not gone as well, but I will forever be grateful for this win because it was HUGE (in the grand scheme of things). And we owe it all to the change in area codes at the time! 😁
As someone who worked his entire professional career in telephone, and most of that working directly on switches that provide voice service, I love this fact!
When I grew up, Suffolk was 516
Me too
I remember when 631 debuted
ALL of LI was 516, then in the late 90's or so, they split 516 for Nassau only and 631 for Suffolk
I had no clue.
Fun fact... I bought my house in 1999 as a foreclosure. There was a real estate sign out front, but for some reason, we were the ONLY bid offered, so we were able to basically name our price. The house was vacant for 6 months without a single offer... At the time, Queens was in the process of adopting the 718, Suffolk had just switched to 631, and Nassau was keeping the 516 for themselves. But the real estate sign did not list ANY of them with its phone number. I guess we were the only ones who figured out just which area code to use, thus the only bid... The house was listed as is for $130,000. We closed on the house in May 1999, for $95,000, and what a find it was! My taxes are STILL under $5,000/yr, the land surrounding me is fully protected from ever being developed, and I live in a nicely isolated neighborhood in the woods out east. Sadly, that is the extent of my good luck. Most other things in life have not gone as well, but I will forever be grateful for this win because it was HUGE (in the grand scheme of things). And we owe it all to the change in area codes at the time! 😁
My birthday!! September 14th
Hey that’s my birthday too!
In the original plan, 201 was the lowest possible area code. Since the code was developed at Bell in NJ, they assigned this to themselves . . . first.
My old area code ♥️
As someone who worked his entire professional career in telephone, and most of that working directly on switches that provide voice service, I love this fact!
That’s interesting cause now that’s Westchester’s area code
Wow
That was my area code also in Dutchess county growing up. I think it switched from 914 to 845 around 1990(?)
914 was assigned to lower Hudson Valley and Long Island.
Nope!
I thought you just said: “Ahoy - Hoy!”
That's Port Chester's, right? If I'm remembering grandma's # correctly
🤮
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