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> I started with the assumption that the owner lived near me in the Portland metropolitan area. With that, I restricted the search to our local area code. Sure,

by tzs 2y ago

> I started with the assumption that the owner lived near me in the Portland metropolitan area. With that, I restricted the search to our local area code. Sure, they could be from out of town, but hey, let's give it a shot They could also be local but with a non-Portland area code. Generally, at least if you are using a nationwide cell phone carrier, you can move to another area code and keep your number. I wonder what percent of people do that?

yieldcrv 2y ago
Nobody has had to change their cell number while moving across the US for 30 years I would say a high percentage of people do that, but portland may not have as many transplants as other cities Yeah it was a weird assumption and I’m glad it worked
seabass-labrax 2y ago
This part of the story is even more surprising to me, as I'd never considered the possibility that mobile phone numbers could have area codes. The Portland metropolitan area has a population of just under three million according to Wikipedia[1]; my country has a population of just under seventy million and has only a single block of phone numbers allocated for cellular use. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_metropolitan_area,_Oregon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_metropolitan_area,_Or...
- sgerenser 2y ago
  This is not the case in the U.S. (discussed elsewhere in this discussion). All phone numbers, landline or mobile, have an area code associated with a specific city/region. Since number portability became a thing in the early 2000s it’s much more common for cell phone users to just keep their number from decades ago, however, which will often not match the physical area they now live in.
  - rootusrootus 2y ago
    The US is also somewhat unique (not the only country, but one of a few) in that we can port numbers between landline and mobile. Most places keep them separate. I used this feature recently, after my mom passed. She had the same home number we grew up with, for fifty years. I ported it over as a second line on my mobile. Partly nostalgia (okay, mostly), partly because it was a pretty great number for memorization; it has an excellent number pattern.

by tzs 2y ago

yieldcrv 2y ago

Nobody has had to change their cell number while moving across the US for 30 years I would say a high percentage of people do that, but portland may not have as many transplants as other cities Yeah it was a weird assumption and I’m glad it worked

seabass-labrax 2y ago

This part of the story is even more surprising to me, as I'd never considered the possibility that mobile phone numbers could have area codes. The Portland metropolitan area has a population of just under three million according to Wikipedia[1]; my country has a population of just under seventy million and has only a single block of phone numbers allocated for cellular use. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_metropolitan_area,_Oregon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_metropolitan_area,_Or...

sgerenser 2y ago
This is not the case in the U.S. (discussed elsewhere in this discussion). All phone numbers, landline or mobile, have an area code associated with a specific city/region. Since number portability became a thing in the early 2000s it’s much more common for cell phone users to just keep their number from decades ago, however, which will often not match the physical area they now live in.
- rootusrootus 2y ago
  The US is also somewhat unique (not the only country, but one of a few) in that we can port numbers between landline and mobile. Most places keep them separate. I used this feature recently, after my mom passed. She had the same home number we grew up with, for fifty years. I ported it over as a second line on my mobile. Partly nostalgia (okay, mostly), partly because it was a pretty great number for memorization; it has an excellent number pattern.