How Do Phone Number Prefixes Fit in the Number?
Every telephone number whether a land line or a cell phone number is essentially a numerical address for that particular telephone line. Depending on the country, the length and layout of the telephone number will vary, but in the United States and throughout North America, there is a fixed 10-digit length to all telephone numbers. The layout for these numbers is a 3-3-4 pattern which was developed back in 1947 by AT&T. This system lays out the telephone number with a three digit area code, a three digit prefix, and a four digit line number. The area code which is assigned by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is utilized for the designation of a certain area, such as a city, or a portion of a state. The Prefix was once known as the switch number. It was the part of the telephone number that designated the specific switch in the phone carrier´s central office was covering that telephone number. This was back in a time when there were human operators connecting all of the calls
