555 is Dead - Clearing Phone Numbers for Movies (hint: Google Voice) | Hacker News Reader

555 is Dead - Clearing Phone Numbers for Movies (hint: Google Voice)

craigormiston.com

12 pointscormiston15 comments

The idea of using a new Google Voice number in your movies is not well thought out. If you release the number after your movie is released, then some poor bastard is going to get the number later and get pestered every time your movie is shown.

If you hold the number forever, then a number will be getting wasted every time someone makes a movie that needs to have a phone number on screen or in dialog. Phone numbers are a finite resource, so that's not good.

To fix that, you'd need to get the movie producers together and agree to share numbers, so that only a handful of numbers are tied up for movies--and then we are back to the situation we have now with a handful of 555 numbers being available.

Valid points except that the majority of people (perhaps cynical, but I think correct) act on what's best for them, not for everyone else, if someone making a film thought that it would be good for the film to take up 1000 phone numbers I don't think they would care about your points.

That said I can't see (m)any movies ever caring enough about something like this to bother, when there are still at least some 555 numbers they can use.

> Phone numbers are a finite resource

They don't need to be. We are used to 7-digit numbers, since that is the limit what a human can easily remember; but there is no reason why phone numbers can't have any number of digits.

In the days of analogue telephony the order of the numbers dialed was important, as the switches used them to narrow down to the actual recipient of the call; but today they're more like URLs, where the whole sequence is taken into consideration. So, while once it was impossible to have numbers 1234 and 12345 in the same area code -- and when they were expanding everyone switched at the same time; I remember that vividly when my hometown switched from 6 to 7 digits some thirty years ago -- today you may have them, and even 1234567 or 1234567890123456789012345677.

I honestly expect that no not so far away future we will ditch phone numbers completely, and instead the phones will be just another technical details we don't bother to remember or even think of, like currently the IP address.

Isn't this against the TOU for Google Voice? I would, personally, go with another service for the number (Twilio?) and setup a service there? Maybe it's time for Google Voice for Business?

Also, what happens for the tons of viewers watching the reruns in the next decade (or more?) Would the number for Ghostbusters suddenly be the number for a character on Glee? (Sure I guess that's no different than now, maybe I'm just thinking too much into this.)

I thought the point of using 555 numbers was that they can be safely reserved for movies because no one will ever use them for anything at all, even when the movie studio goes defunct and no one cares any more.

A google voice number certainly doesn't fit that bill. It can probably get disconnected and put back for the public for any number of reasons. Maybe getting 2,000 voice mails a day is against the TOS, or maybe Google Voice stops being free, or maybe Google continues its track record with discontinued services and bops it over the head like it did Google Wave. (cough http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products#Previou... cough)

555 numbers are reserved for the phone system usage (kinda like 127 IP addresses). A few of them are in use by the phone system (ex: 555-1212) but the vast majority are not in use and probably won't be used simply because the phone system doesn't need nearly 1,000 local numbers.

Nearly 1000? You mean exactly 10,000, right? 0000 to 9999.

I understand why they have to use fake 555 numbers in the movies, even though it's a bit jarring ("Oh look he's dialing one of those fake movie phone numbers") but why do movie and game producers always feel compelled to invent phoney Middle East countries (and conversely not invent countries in Europe or Asia)? http://www.11points.com/Movies/11_Fictional_Middle_Eastern_C... Maybe it doesn't matter to the geographically challenged masses (especially in the US) but there are some of us who know our maps.

Because most of the time those countries are depicted in at least somewhat bad light, and they want to avoid any potential diplomatic trouble, or at least not impair their commercial chances at the said country. Or, probably at least as often, the simply don't want to do too much research into the language, culture or history of a real country. :)

Phew, I thought we were talking about the chip for a minute!

Who the hell watches a movie, sees a phone number, and then decides that they absolutely must call it?

A lot of people. "Bruce Almighty" used a real number and it caused a lot of hassle for the owner. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/27/entertainment/main...

All the time. Hell, to this day idiots pester anyone who gets the number 867-5309.

Why don't movie producers just use 6- or 8-digit phone numbers. It's fiction, so who cares if they use the right number of digits?

Because people will still try to dial them... Possibly even dialing all the missing digits in an attempt to find the 'real' one, even though it doesn't exist.

If you start it with 555, then you don't need to worry about it.

That's assuming the number even needs to be said at all. There are plenty of ways around it.

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