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Oh hey! I have experience with this! I used to analyze data for a call center. We had a law that prevented us from calling people at night. This is hard becaus

Oh hey! I have experience with this! I used to analyze data for a call center. We had a law that prevented us from calling people at night. This is hard because of the following reasons: Zip codes and time zones don't align well (looking at you, West Florida!) Area codes and zip codes don't align well Area codes and time zones don't align well People move!

wackro 5y ago
There is only one time zone in finland
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- flatline 5y ago
  But that Finnish phone number could belong to someone in England.
  - dagw 5y ago
    Who was vacationing in Thailand.
    - PostThisTooFast 5y ago
      But took a day trip to Australia.
nonameiguess 5y ago
Area codes mean little in the mobile phone era. Just tells you where a person lived when they were a teenager or otherwise first got their own phone.
- fps_doug 5y ago
  Not in Germany. The mobile network has distinct numbers. You can have a land line number mapped to a cellphone, but it's rare these days, don't know anybody who does this. It was popular back when calling cellphones was more expensive than land lines.
  - PinguTS 5y ago
    "Area" codes in German cellphones were never the area but the cellphone provider. But that became none sense, when you could move your number to any other cellphone provider like I did. I own the same cell phone number since 1998 and was with almost any of the cellphone providers (except QUAM and E-Plus). Actual area codes in Germany are always area codes. I doesn't matter if they are mapped to the cellphone or to SIP. When you make an address change, then your area code changes. Happened to my area code. But moved it to a friends house in the same area, so that I can keep it (illegally). Because I "own" that number as well since about 1998.
    - phreeza 5y ago
      I moved away from Germany and I still have a German landline number via SIP. Are you saying this is illegal?
      - PinguTS 5y ago
        If you inform your SIP provider about your new address, then they need to give you a new number. If you number has the "area" code specially for SIP, then it is not a problem. But if you have an actual area code, then this is not allowed according to the rules of Bundesnetzagentur.
        phreeza 5y ago
        Good to know. They certainly don't seem to be super eager to enforce this, since I have been using it from a foreign IP address and with a foreign billing address for a long time. Maybe there is a field for physical address that I should have updated...
- cogman10 5y ago
  Country codes still matter, for the most part. In the EU pretty much every nation has their own country code. Which means 555-555-5555 will map differently depending on the nation you are in.
  - nonameiguess 5y ago
    And maybe for the EU, knowing what nation a person resides in gives you some idea of their time zone. The US spans 6 time zones (technically 9 if you count non-state territories). Russia spans 11.
jasonjayr 5y ago
Oh, and don't forget, phones lines can be forwarded elsewhere as well. (hopefully the law's text said "area code time zone", and had some wording against tomfoolery like making a forwarding service that sent calls wherever)
irrational 5y ago
People move is a big one. Since smartphones became popular, I’ve noticed that people tend to keep the same phone number from where they got their first phone number. So I will receive calls from all over the place, except they really are all local calls from people that now live in my town. So when I see that a call is from Wisconsin, that is meaningless since it could be from someone living down the street.
- spinax 5y ago
  When I left a previous state, I paid to port the local area code number away from (major cell carrier) over to Google Voice (I've had this number some 20 years now). Many of the folks I work with (tech sector) have cell numbers from different states, having moved into this state only for work and some day plan to leave/return to their original home.
- bigwavedave 5y ago
  Yeah, I've moved a couple of times and still have the phone number I got in the second state I lived in. The nice thing is that, for the most part, the only people calling me from that state's area code are robocallers who are spoofing what they hope is my local area code. I very rarely answer unknown numbers anyway, but seeing these kinds of area codes on my caller ID almost guarantee it's a spam call.
- MivLives 5y ago
  And now I know that if I get a call from my numbers zipcode and I don't have them added it's a robocall!
karmakaze 5y ago
How many hours off can you be with area codes or zip codes? I would have thought that might be about an hour not really more than that.
- TheRealPomax 5y ago
  There is no difference between mobile and land line numbers in North America. There's no national "mobile only" prefix (like in many EU countries), and no "your number changes if you move to a new location": phone numbers are owned by carriers, and you get whatever number your local carrier branch was allocated (which will have the local area code). That's it, the idea that "area codes" are actually location indicators is basically an anachronism from the land line days. If someone has a mobile phone, which is everyone, and that phone has a Toronto number because they bought the phone plan when they lived in Toronto, then they move to Vancouver, they get to keep their number as long as they stay with their carrier. If you then look at that number and go "the area code is Toronto, 8am is an acceptable time to call that number", now you're calling someone at 5am. Area codes in North America, by and large, only tells you which city the carrier's branch was located when the phone plan got set up. Canada and the US are huge countries made of mostly empty space with pockets of life spaced far, far apart, and people move from pocket to pocket all the time.
  - syrrim 5y ago
    >phone numbers are owned by carriers >they get to keep their number as long as they stay with their carrier. You can move phone numbers between carriers.
    - vel0city 5y ago
      I was about to say, since 2003 in the US wireless number portability is required. You as a consumer have a right to port your number from one carrier to another, they're only supposed to be able to charge fees related to their costs which is usually $0. https://www.fcc.gov/general/wireless-local-number-portability-wlnp https://www.fcc.gov/general/wireless-local-number-portabilit...
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
jrnichols 5y ago
I have a north Texas area code but live on the west coast again, and the number of idiot robo-dialers I get calling me early in the morning is frustrating. My phone is now on Do Not Disturb most of the time because of these. Even with the do not call list, Hiya, and Nomorobo.
- AdamJacobMuller 5y ago
  Recently started using RoboKiller and it's reduced these to a near zero level.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
TrailMixRaisin 5y ago
While I understand your argument, there is only one timezone in Finnland and in my understanding he was calling land lines. So all the numbers should end in Finnland. Of course it can happen that a number is forwarded but then I see no blame with the author.

wackro 5y ago

There is only one time zone in finland

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
flatline 5y ago
But that Finnish phone number could belong to someone in England.
- dagw 5y ago
  Who was vacationing in Thailand.
  - PostThisTooFast 5y ago
    But took a day trip to Australia.

nonameiguess 5y ago

Area codes mean little in the mobile phone era. Just tells you where a person lived when they were a teenager or otherwise first got their own phone.

fps_doug 5y ago
Not in Germany. The mobile network has distinct numbers. You can have a land line number mapped to a cellphone, but it's rare these days, don't know anybody who does this. It was popular back when calling cellphones was more expensive than land lines.
- PinguTS 5y ago
  "Area" codes in German cellphones were never the area but the cellphone provider. But that became none sense, when you could move your number to any other cellphone provider like I did. I own the same cell phone number since 1998 and was with almost any of the cellphone providers (except QUAM and E-Plus). Actual area codes in Germany are always area codes. I doesn't matter if they are mapped to the cellphone or to SIP. When you make an address change, then your area code changes. Happened to my area code. But moved it to a friends house in the same area, so that I can keep it (illegally). Because I "own" that number as well since about 1998.
  - phreeza 5y ago
    I moved away from Germany and I still have a German landline number via SIP. Are you saying this is illegal?
    - PinguTS 5y ago
      If you inform your SIP provider about your new address, then they need to give you a new number. If you number has the "area" code specially for SIP, then it is not a problem. But if you have an actual area code, then this is not allowed according to the rules of Bundesnetzagentur.
      - phreeza 5y ago
        Good to know. They certainly don't seem to be super eager to enforce this, since I have been using it from a foreign IP address and with a foreign billing address for a long time. Maybe there is a field for physical address that I should have updated...
cogman10 5y ago
Country codes still matter, for the most part. In the EU pretty much every nation has their own country code. Which means 555-555-5555 will map differently depending on the nation you are in.
- nonameiguess 5y ago
  And maybe for the EU, knowing what nation a person resides in gives you some idea of their time zone. The US spans 6 time zones (technically 9 if you count non-state territories). Russia spans 11.

jasonjayr 5y ago

Oh, and don't forget, phones lines can be forwarded elsewhere as well. (hopefully the law's text said "area code time zone", and had some wording against tomfoolery like making a forwarding service that sent calls wherever)

irrational 5y ago

People move is a big one. Since smartphones became popular, I’ve noticed that people tend to keep the same phone number from where they got their first phone number. So I will receive calls from all over the place, except they really are all local calls from people that now live in my town. So when I see that a call is from Wisconsin, that is meaningless since it could be from someone living down the street.

spinax 5y ago
When I left a previous state, I paid to port the local area code number away from (major cell carrier) over to Google Voice (I've had this number some 20 years now). Many of the folks I work with (tech sector) have cell numbers from different states, having moved into this state only for work and some day plan to leave/return to their original home.
bigwavedave 5y ago
Yeah, I've moved a couple of times and still have the phone number I got in the second state I lived in. The nice thing is that, for the most part, the only people calling me from that state's area code are robocallers who are spoofing what they hope is my local area code. I very rarely answer unknown numbers anyway, but seeing these kinds of area codes on my caller ID almost guarantee it's a spam call.
MivLives 5y ago
And now I know that if I get a call from my numbers zipcode and I don't have them added it's a robocall!

karmakaze 5y ago

How many hours off can you be with area codes or zip codes? I would have thought that might be about an hour not really more than that.

TheRealPomax 5y ago
There is no difference between mobile and land line numbers in North America. There's no national "mobile only" prefix (like in many EU countries), and no "your number changes if you move to a new location": phone numbers are owned by carriers, and you get whatever number your local carrier branch was allocated (which will have the local area code). That's it, the idea that "area codes" are actually location indicators is basically an anachronism from the land line days. If someone has a mobile phone, which is everyone, and that phone has a Toronto number because they bought the phone plan when they lived in Toronto, then they move to Vancouver, they get to keep their number as long as they stay with their carrier. If you then look at that number and go "the area code is Toronto, 8am is an acceptable time to call that number", now you're calling someone at 5am. Area codes in North America, by and large, only tells you which city the carrier's branch was located when the phone plan got set up. Canada and the US are huge countries made of mostly empty space with pockets of life spaced far, far apart, and people move from pocket to pocket all the time.
- syrrim 5y ago
  >phone numbers are owned by carriers >they get to keep their number as long as they stay with their carrier. You can move phone numbers between carriers.
  - vel0city 5y ago
    I was about to say, since 2003 in the US wireless number portability is required. You as a consumer have a right to port your number from one carrier to another, they're only supposed to be able to charge fees related to their costs which is usually $0. https://www.fcc.gov/general/wireless-local-number-portability-wlnp https://www.fcc.gov/general/wireless-local-number-portabilit...

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

jrnichols 5y ago

I have a north Texas area code but live on the west coast again, and the number of idiot robo-dialers I get calling me early in the morning is frustrating. My phone is now on Do Not Disturb most of the time because of these. Even with the do not call list, Hiya, and Nomorobo.

AdamJacobMuller 5y ago
Recently started using RoboKiller and it's reduced these to a near zero level.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

TrailMixRaisin 5y ago

While I understand your argument, there is only one timezone in Finnland and in my understanding he was calling land lines. So all the numbers should end in Finnland. Of course it can happen that a number is forwarded but then I see no blame with the author.