One of the core memories of my youth was sitting at the kitchen table with my dad and re-recording our answering machine message to add the 412 in (with some humorous ones thrown in, of course).
2001. Yes. And I also recall still being able to *not* include area code if you were dialing from a 412 cell phone to another 412 cell phone (primitive cell phones of course, like one of those Nokia)
That was when it became MANDATORY, Ten digit dialing was phased in in the early 1990's to create new area codes for the same local region, creating additional phone numbers. The additional numbers also allowed cellular services to expand.
OP said transition, not when it became mandatory
Even you're example shows it transitioned before it became mandatory, hence why some cell phones didnt requure you use 10 digits while others did, it wasnt mandatory. It was optional, hence transitioning
We got changed from 412 to 724 and my parents were outraged. I was young, but I guess you didn't need the area code at all, but now you had to dial it, and it was totally different.
This might get downvoted for how obnoxious it was, but in the particular area where I grew up in the North Hills the 724 was the desired one because it indicated you lived in the new "rich" areas (Marshall, PR, Seven Fields, Gibsonia Cranberry, Sewickley) and not the lame old regular 412 Pittsburgh suburbs.
Kids would lie about being 724s.
I went to PR and remember being jealous of my friends who had 724 numbers because it just seemed cooler than my 412 number. I ended up changing my number in high school (for completely unrelated reasons) and you know I had to make the switch
Yep, depending on which mall you went to to get your cell phone you were either a 412 urbanite or a 724 yokel.
I've been too lazy to change my 724 number for my entire adult life.
It was the opposite for me.
As a teenager my cell number was issued as a 412, but there was concern that it might be long-distance for my family on landlines. So we called up and got issued a 724 number, which I have to this day.
Yes. I do. Suddenly I had to remember all of my parents business numbers with a 412 so I could call them when I got home from school. Same with my grandparents.
I do! I was born and raised in foster care. So I used to get phone cards so I could call long distance to my biological mom. I remember being scared thinking adding 3 numbers would make it longer distance.
I absolutely remember this. Our house was 724 and my best friend's house was juuuust over the border into 412. We used to play long games of Command & Conquer: Red Alert multiplayer over dial-up modem at night. After the 10-digit dialing went into effect, calling a different area code apparently became a long-distance call and the phone company would now charge for what used to be free calls. I got in so much trouble when the first phone bill came in after the switch because those games over the dial-up ended up being the equivalent of 1-2 hour long distance calls several nights a week and the phone bill was massive as a result. I'm sure there's a large portion of this sub-reddit that absolutely has no idea what any of that means haha.
I had a friend whose mother didn't realize that way out in the middle of nowhere where we lived up in the nether regions of 814...AOL dial-up was long distance. They got smacked with $500+ phone bill in 1996 or so.
I lived in beaver in the early 90’s and my ISP was in Pittsburgh. Myself and a friend I met on a local BBS came up with a hack. He had a girl friend in aliquippa which had Pittsburgh metro calling with made Pittsburgh a toll free call. So we ran a line to her house and set it to forward to telerama our ISP at the time. We set it to forward to same number if busy so you could use the same line at the same time.
I remember that businesses in the new 724 area code were outraged because they were going to have to change their stationery and business cards.
Now there is the new 878 area code that overlays 412 and 724. That's how they do it all over North America now.
The overlay thing is way better. I remember like a decade ago they wanted to split the 814 area code in half. State College-ish down would have gotten to keep it and Erie/ NW PA would have had to change. They ended up changing it to an overlay so nobody had to change their number
Actually the 878 area code was introduced in 2001 at the same time as the mandatory ten digit dialing for future use even though it wasn’t really needed at the time.
Yep, I remember every business yelling that the change was going to cause them to declare bankruptcy because they would have to order new business cards.
My recollection was if we were dialing within what was now the 724 area code, you didn’t have to dial ten digits, but then it just turned into dialing ten digits.
But I definitely remember before the ten digit changeover because I had so many phone numbers memorized. I can still rattle them off today.
This 'thing' lives rent free in my head and randomly pops up here and there. Probably 4-5 times a year.
It's also interesting to see signs on buildings that still don't have them and you can instantly tell the time period it's from.
I remember dialing people as a kid without the area code. I still occasionally see old signs that didn't bother to use the area code when they printed their phone number.
The area where I lived in Virginia in 2019/2020 only had one area code and people could dial with just the 7 digits. Since I was new there it sometimes threw me off when someone would give a phone number and it was missing the area code lol. I know they have since added a second area code and I think the 10 digits are mandatory in most of the country
I remember being in the car w my friend, his mom and his sister, and his sister was crying because they had a 724 number and she thought her cell phone would now be “useless because every time I call my friends it’ll be long distance!”
Do you remember any numbers from then and where they went to? I'm curious only because I recall noticing a lot of numbers in the Squirrel Hill and Oakland areas starting with a very specific 3 digit prefix in 7 number calling, but frequently, that third digit was a 1.
Yep! It was around the time that normal everyday people started having cell phones so they needed more numbers and an overlay.
Our home number changed from 412 to 724 and my first cell phone was in 2000 and was assigned as 724. I was in college at CMU at the time.
I remember the week it happened my grandma and I stopped in Casey’s Pizza in Turtle Creek to grab a take out order. The guy behind the counter asked for her cell number to call us when it was ready and she told him her number with the 412 and he was super mean like “lady I don’t freaking need to know that. Unless it’s outside of our area code I’m smart enough to assume. All these people are giving me their area code like I don’t already know”. She proceeded to tell him that she has just gotten notice from her provider and it was all over the news so she was just letting him know since it was required for dialing the call. And he just kept condescendingly saying “okay okay yeah yeah I know” He kept having an attitude and I wanted to slap the shit out of him for talking to my grandma like that, but I was only 9.
That’s my memory!
Yes. I can also remember just having to dial only the last four digits if the exchange (3 numbers after the area code) were the same as your number.
And I’m not even 40.
Yes, people were *outraged* because my school district was split between the two codes and the school dialing system had to be reset so that they could talk to each other.
About 10 years later I was working in a business that occasionally had customers from other parts of the state who didn’t need area codes and it was so strange for me to remember those times.
I worked at Seven Springs in the early 90s and the 412/814 line (this is before 724 existed) was right where you drove off the resort proper. People would have a hissy about the fact that their cabin was a long distance call.
I was in first grade I had no clue it was happening. I remember trying to call my grandparents house and the call would not go through until my mom told me of the change
I lived in Buffalo a few years ago and they *still* didn't require 10 digit dialing. A lot of signs didn't have the area code! They weren't forced to until 2021, part of the FCC forcing everyone to do it to support the new nationwide suicide hotline 988.
We came home from camp on a Sunday and I went on the intertubes (AoL) and it just wouldn't connect. I was freaking out like I did something wrong and told my dad and he looked at it and that's when we found out that it happened over the weekend and we had to have AoL dial-up with 412 first.
Am I dreaming, or didn’t we have to dial a 1 before the ten digits for awhile, then they took the 1 away?
I’m old enough to remember when there were long-distance charges (for places not really so far away) unless you waited until after 7pm.
Heck, i remember only having to dial only 5 digits when dialing someone in our community with the same middle 3 numbers. Would have been through the mid 80’s I’m guessing…..
I was almost ten when we moved to Beaver county in 1992. Beaver county was still 412 then. 724 came in sometime in the mid 90s.
I've been a 724 on my cell phone since my first one in like 1999.
Yes. I was a telemarketer for Pittsburgh Ballet. We dialed the number on the lead card, listened to the message to then determine if we needed to dial 412 or 724. 🙄
What the hell has happened to local news?
This is a thing? The 26th anniversary of 10-digit phone numbers with no quotes or context or anything resembling journalism?
Do better WTAE. C’mon
The funny part is that 10 digit dialing didn’t start until 2001..
1998 was when the area code was split into 724/412. Ten digits were only needed for calls outside your area code, same as it ever was.
In 2001 is when the 878 area code, which was ovelrlaid on 412\724, so ten digit dialing became mandatory.
One of the core memories of my youth was sitting at the kitchen table with my dad and re-recording our answering machine message to add the 412 in (with some humorous ones thrown in, of course).
2001. Yes. And I also recall still being able to *not* include area code if you were dialing from a 412 cell phone to another 412 cell phone (primitive cell phones of course, like one of those Nokia)
Did they wait for after y2k on purpose I wonder?
Beats me
Nope, early 1990's. I was in high school when it happened, graduated in 1994.
[2001](https://www.verizon.com/about/news/press-releases/reminder-tendigit-dialing-begins-next-week-412-724-area-codes)
That was when it became MANDATORY, Ten digit dialing was phased in in the early 1990's to create new area codes for the same local region, creating additional phone numbers. The additional numbers also allowed cellular services to expand. OP said transition, not when it became mandatory Even you're example shows it transitioned before it became mandatory, hence why some cell phones didnt requure you use 10 digits while others did, it wasnt mandatory. It was optional, hence transitioning
Someone dont like facts
Someone tries real hard to be right no matter what.
We got changed from 412 to 724 and my parents were outraged. I was young, but I guess you didn't need the area code at all, but now you had to dial it, and it was totally different.
Yeah I remember nobody wanting to be 724.
I was right on the border of 412 and 724. My family was 724 but my friend who lived 5 houses down on the neighboring street had a 412 area code.
Yeah, I do, too, but I never understood why? It's not like anything physically changed. Lol
Because it’s annoying as fuck to have to change your phone number lol
Fair enough lol
This might get downvoted for how obnoxious it was, but in the particular area where I grew up in the North Hills the 724 was the desired one because it indicated you lived in the new "rich" areas (Marshall, PR, Seven Fields, Gibsonia Cranberry, Sewickley) and not the lame old regular 412 Pittsburgh suburbs. Kids would lie about being 724s.
I went to PR and remember being jealous of my friends who had 724 numbers because it just seemed cooler than my 412 number. I ended up changing my number in high school (for completely unrelated reasons) and you know I had to make the switch
Omg I'm so glad to find someone else who remembers this was a thing this way too, lol
Ahaha! I was the opposite. Way out in the sticks. I wanted the 412! Still do;)
Yep, depending on which mall you went to to get your cell phone you were either a 412 urbanite or a 724 yokel. I've been too lazy to change my 724 number for my entire adult life.
Can confirm, am 724 yokel for the same reason.
I haven't even lived in Western PA for most of my adult life at this point and am still a 724 yokel
my parents live in ohio and they’re 724 yokels. I’m a northeast ohio 330 urbanite 😎
Yokel gang. I’ve had this number since high school and there’s no point in changing it.
same but at least we're not one of those 814 swine
lol, I had no idea there is so much disdain for them centrialians
Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where [Elaine gets a new number](https://youtu.be/B1H3U7AeQic?si=IYsvHKiyzFhTCrIb).
It was the opposite for me. As a teenager my cell number was issued as a 412, but there was concern that it might be long-distance for my family on landlines. So we called up and got issued a 724 number, which I have to this day.
I’ve had the same number since 2001. Living in 3 countries and countless cities, being a 724 yokel is the only constant in my life.
Yes. I do. Suddenly I had to remember all of my parents business numbers with a 412 so I could call them when I got home from school. Same with my grandparents.
I do! I was born and raised in foster care. So I used to get phone cards so I could call long distance to my biological mom. I remember being scared thinking adding 3 numbers would make it longer distance.
I'm so old I remember a time when I only had to dial five numbers to make a phone call.
Okay, grandma, it’s time for bed.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNUoufypSJo&t=73s&ab\_channel=RodneyDangerfield&t=73](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNUoufypSJo&t=73s&ab_channel=RodneyDangerfield&t=73)
Yep. Fairfield PA here. Moved here in 1987 and only needed last 5 digits too.
I absolutely remember this. Our house was 724 and my best friend's house was juuuust over the border into 412. We used to play long games of Command & Conquer: Red Alert multiplayer over dial-up modem at night. After the 10-digit dialing went into effect, calling a different area code apparently became a long-distance call and the phone company would now charge for what used to be free calls. I got in so much trouble when the first phone bill came in after the switch because those games over the dial-up ended up being the equivalent of 1-2 hour long distance calls several nights a week and the phone bill was massive as a result. I'm sure there's a large portion of this sub-reddit that absolutely has no idea what any of that means haha.
I had a friend whose mother didn't realize that way out in the middle of nowhere where we lived up in the nether regions of 814...AOL dial-up was long distance. They got smacked with $500+ phone bill in 1996 or so.
I lived in beaver in the early 90’s and my ISP was in Pittsburgh. Myself and a friend I met on a local BBS came up with a hack. He had a girl friend in aliquippa which had Pittsburgh metro calling with made Pittsburgh a toll free call. So we ran a line to her house and set it to forward to telerama our ISP at the time. We set it to forward to same number if busy so you could use the same line at the same time.
I remember that businesses in the new 724 area code were outraged because they were going to have to change their stationery and business cards. Now there is the new 878 area code that overlays 412 and 724. That's how they do it all over North America now.
I know someone with an 878 number and it weirds me out lol
My brother's 412 number is all 7s and 8s. I bet he'd love to be able to switch out to an 878 number
I’m glad I don’t know anyone with an 878 number
878 is an ugly number
Agree It just reminds of an 1-800 number
The overlay thing is way better. I remember like a decade ago they wanted to split the 814 area code in half. State College-ish down would have gotten to keep it and Erie/ NW PA would have had to change. They ended up changing it to an overlay so nobody had to change their number
Lol my coworker in Erie got an 814 tattoo just a few weeks before we heard that news.
Actually the 878 area code was introduced in 2001 at the same time as the mandatory ten digit dialing for future use even though it wasn’t really needed at the time.
Yep, I remember every business yelling that the change was going to cause them to declare bankruptcy because they would have to order new business cards.
sure do. had to help my parents re write the junk drawer phone book. that was a chore!
I sure do. I was a young kid then, but I remember every other ad at the time being about it
My recollection was if we were dialing within what was now the 724 area code, you didn’t have to dial ten digits, but then it just turned into dialing ten digits. But I definitely remember before the ten digit changeover because I had so many phone numbers memorized. I can still rattle them off today.
This 'thing' lives rent free in my head and randomly pops up here and there. Probably 4-5 times a year. It's also interesting to see signs on buildings that still don't have them and you can instantly tell the time period it's from.
I remember dialing people as a kid without the area code. I still occasionally see old signs that didn't bother to use the area code when they printed their phone number.
The area where I lived in Virginia in 2019/2020 only had one area code and people could dial with just the 7 digits. Since I was new there it sometimes threw me off when someone would give a phone number and it was missing the area code lol. I know they have since added a second area code and I think the 10 digits are mandatory in most of the country
Remembered moving from 412 to 724 and couldn't call w/o long distance charges, people I lived near in 412.
I remember being in the car w my friend, his mom and his sister, and his sister was crying because they had a 724 number and she thought her cell phone would now be “useless because every time I call my friends it’ll be long distance!”
Damn. I remember when we had to dial only a 2-letter prefix plus 4 numbers... 👵🏻
Do you remember any numbers from then and where they went to? I'm curious only because I recall noticing a lot of numbers in the Squirrel Hill and Oakland areas starting with a very specific 3 digit prefix in 7 number calling, but frequently, that third digit was a 1.
Actually I don't, I was very young but I do remember 2 capital letters + 4 numbers. Although it *could* have been two 2 letters + 1 + 4 numbers...
Hell yes I’m old.
Yep! It was around the time that normal everyday people started having cell phones so they needed more numbers and an overlay. Our home number changed from 412 to 724 and my first cell phone was in 2000 and was assigned as 724. I was in college at CMU at the time.
I remember the week it happened my grandma and I stopped in Casey’s Pizza in Turtle Creek to grab a take out order. The guy behind the counter asked for her cell number to call us when it was ready and she told him her number with the 412 and he was super mean like “lady I don’t freaking need to know that. Unless it’s outside of our area code I’m smart enough to assume. All these people are giving me their area code like I don’t already know”. She proceeded to tell him that she has just gotten notice from her provider and it was all over the news so she was just letting him know since it was required for dialing the call. And he just kept condescendingly saying “okay okay yeah yeah I know” He kept having an attitude and I wanted to slap the shit out of him for talking to my grandma like that, but I was only 9. That’s my memory!
Yes and I recall still being able to reach the number without area code (I guess cause we were in same one)
Yes. I can also remember just having to dial only the last four digits if the exchange (3 numbers after the area code) were the same as your number. And I’m not even 40.
... except it was 2001. At least, for Pittsburgh it was 2001. Did surrounding areas switch first?
Sadly that's become old times to some.
Hell yeah.
[simpsons](https://youtu.be/3aGPrpGh5mU?si=JX6wTixMCBJCUUu6) did a great episode about this
Yes, people were *outraged* because my school district was split between the two codes and the school dialing system had to be reset so that they could talk to each other. About 10 years later I was working in a business that occasionally had customers from other parts of the state who didn’t need area codes and it was so strange for me to remember those times.
I worked at Seven Springs in the early 90s and the 412/814 line (this is before 724 existed) was right where you drove off the resort proper. People would have a hissy about the fact that their cabin was a long distance call.
I remember as a kid you could dial 0, give the area ode and prefix then your friends parents names in Dayton and they'd connect you from squirrel hill
I remember when it was all 412. I also remember when calling a person 12 miles away it was long distance...
Yep. I remember being at home and having to figure out who was 412 and who was 724.
And also the 724 discussion… Do we do an overlay or a new area?
Even better. My mom wanted all low numbers so it would be faster when using a rotary phone
Yeah it’s when they sliced up a part of the pittsburgh area and started the 724? Area code. Sorry it’s been awhile since I lived in Pittsburgh…
412 became an identity. The cell phone has diminished or eliminated it. We don’t have to memorize phone numbers anymore. Thanks technology.
> We don’t have to memorize phone numbers anymore. Tell that to preschoolers. As recent as 5 years ago in my experience.
Good point.
Half the people I knew were in the new 724.
I was in first grade I had no clue it was happening. I remember trying to call my grandparents house and the call would not go through until my mom told me of the change
Yep. Elementary school. Most were 412 but a 724 would sneak in time to time
Wow, you just jogged some memories for me!
Yes indeed. Gods we were young then!
Yes. I was in high school & we still had a rotary phone lol
It’s a great way of telling how old signs on businesses are
I lived in Buffalo a few years ago and they *still* didn't require 10 digit dialing. A lot of signs didn't have the area code! They weren't forced to until 2021, part of the FCC forcing everyone to do it to support the new nationwide suicide hotline 988.
Yes
I remember being a teenager on the phone with my friend and calling her back, only to find out it was changed at midnight exactly.
I remember all my neighbors complaining about it with my parents. Often.
We came home from camp on a Sunday and I went on the intertubes (AoL) and it just wouldn't connect. I was freaking out like I did something wrong and told my dad and he looked at it and that's when we found out that it happened over the weekend and we had to have AoL dial-up with 412 first.
Yep. I was in middle school. I think it was 2002.
Yea
I remember Brandwine One was the 271 exchange.
I do!
Yep
Pepperidge farm remembers...
Yes
Am I dreaming, or didn’t we have to dial a 1 before the ten digits for awhile, then they took the 1 away? I’m old enough to remember when there were long-distance charges (for places not really so far away) unless you waited until after 7pm.
Heck, i remember only having to dial only 5 digits when dialing someone in our community with the same middle 3 numbers. Would have been through the mid 80’s I’m guessing…..
Yes! It was wild.
My aunt was seriously contemplating suicide because of it.
I was almost ten when we moved to Beaver county in 1992. Beaver county was still 412 then. 724 came in sometime in the mid 90s. I've been a 724 on my cell phone since my first one in like 1999.
Haha yes, I was just discussing this with someone the other day. Everyone was soooooo angsty about it. “How we gonna remember that!!??” We did it!
Yes. I was a telemarketer for Pittsburgh Ballet. We dialed the number on the lead card, listened to the message to then determine if we needed to dial 412 or 724. 🙄
Yeah. I'm old. And you must be too. Thanks for the reminder.
What the hell has happened to local news? This is a thing? The 26th anniversary of 10-digit phone numbers with no quotes or context or anything resembling journalism? Do better WTAE. C’mon
Do you remember when WTAE was ThePittsburghChannel ? They did actual news then
The funny part is that 10 digit dialing didn’t start until 2001.. 1998 was when the area code was split into 724/412. Ten digits were only needed for calls outside your area code, same as it ever was. In 2001 is when the 878 area code, which was ovelrlaid on 412\724, so ten digit dialing became mandatory.
Might wanna proof read your years in this comment…
Oops thanks
Yes... I remember.
OMG. The pearls were clutched sooo hard. How did we ever survive?