Area code 900 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for premium-rate telephone numbers. Area code 900 was installed in 1971. [1]
Premium rate services are dialed in the format 1-900-XXX-XXXX. This is often called a 900 number or a 1 900 number ("one-nine-hundred").
A call to a 900-number can result in high per-minute or per-call charges. For example, a "psychic hotline" may charge US$ 2.99 for the first minute and US$ 0.99 for each additional minute.
The first 900-service known to have been used in the United States, was for the "Ask President Carter" program in March 1977, for incoming calls to a nationwide talk radio broadcast featuring the newly elected President Jimmy Carter, hosted by anchorman Walter Cronkite. [2] At that time, the intent for area code 900 was as a choke exchange—a code that blocked large numbers of simultaneous callers from jamming up the long-distance network. Numbers with the 900 area code were those which were expected to have a huge number of potential callers, and the 900 area code was screened at the local level to allow only a certain number of the callers in each area to access the nationwide long-distance network for reaching the destination number. Also, the early incarnation of 900 was not billed at premium-rate charges, but rather at regular long-distance charges based on the time of day and day of week that the call was placed. The number used for the radio program was one that was specially arranged by AT&T Corporation, CBS Radio, and the White House, to be free to the calling party. [2] However, by 1980,[ citation needed ] the 900 area code was completely restructured by AT&T to be the premium-rate special area code which it remains today. At that time, many evening news agencies conducted "pulse polls" for $0.50 per call charges and displayed results on television. One early use was by Saturday Night Live producers for the sketch "Larry the Lobster", featuring Eddie Murphy. The comedy sketch drew nearly 500,000 calls. AT&T and the producers of SNL split the profits of nearly $250,000. [3]
Earlier, 976 numbers used 976 as a local prefix (970 or 540 in some markets, such as New York state), though it was not assigned to a specific telephone exchange. These numbers were dialed as any other number, such as 976-1234.
Initially, consumers had no choice regarding the accessibility to 900 or 976 numbers with their subscription service. However, in 1987, after a child had accumulated a bill of $17,000,[ citation needed ] the California Public Utilities Commission subsequently required telephone companies to give customers the option of preventing the dialing of premium-rate numbers. [4]
From the early 1980s through the early 1990s, it was common to see commercials promoting 1 (900) numbers to children featuring such things as characters famous from Saturday morning cartoons to Santa Claus.[ citation needed ] [5] Due to complaints from parent groups about kids not knowing the dangers and high cost of such calls, the FTC enacted new rules and such commercials directed at children ceased to air on television as of the mid-1990s.[ citation needed ]
Using 900-numbers for adult entertainment lines was a prevalent practice in the early years of the industry. This practice continues, along with the use of these numbers for things such as software technical support, banking access, and stock tips. Adult entertainment 900 numbers have been largely absent from AT&T and MCI since 1991. In 1992, the Supreme Court allowed a law passed by Congress that created a block on all 900 numbers that provided adult content, except for those consumers who requested access to a specific number in writing. The law killed the adult 900 number business, which moved over to 800 numbers, where billing had to be done by credit card. [6]
Hulk Hogan's Hotline was a lucrative 900 number in the 1990s. [7] Other early leaders in amassing huge volumes of revenue were the New Kids on the Block and Dionne Warwick's Psychic Friends Network.
Consumers in the US have specific rights regarding 900 number calls, as laid down by the Federal Trade Commission, such as the right to a disclaimer at the beginning of the call and a subsequent 3-second hang-up grace period, the ability to contest billing errors, a prohibition on marketing to children, and a requirement that telecommunication companies must allow the consumer to block dialing to 900 numbers.[ citation needed ] US telephone companies are prohibited from disconnecting local service as a means to force payment for 1 (900) calls.[ citation needed ] Furthermore, in 2002, AT&T withdrew from billing their customers for the fee structures. [8] This was followed by other companies throughout the decade until 2012, when Verizon, the final hold-out, also withdrew from passing on the charges. [6]
Various attempts have been made by vendors to circumvent these protections by using Caribbean or other international numbers outside Federal Communications Commission jurisdiction to bill US telephone subscribers; [9] the former +1 (809) countries were popular as their North American Numbering Plan format numbers look domestic but are not. [10] The 101XXXX dial-around prefixes were also briefly the target of abuse by premium number providers posing as inter-exchange carriers, a practice which has now been stopped. A loophole which allowed US (but not Canadian) providers in toll-free area code 800 to bill for calls by claiming the subscriber agreed to the charges has also been largely closed by more stringent regulation. [11] [12]
The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1 and has the telephone country code 1. Some North American countries, most notably Mexico, do not participate in the NANP.
Automatic number identification (ANI) is a feature of a telecommunications network for automatically determining the origination telephone number on toll calls for billing purposes. Automatic number identification was originally created by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) for long distance service in the Bell System, eliminating the need for telephone operators to manually record calls.
Premium-rate telephone numbers are telephone numbers that charge callers higher price rates for select services, including information and entertainment. A portion of the call fees is paid to the service provider, allowing premium calls to be an additional source of revenue for businesses. Tech support, psychic hotlines, and adult chat lines are among the most popular kinds of premium-rate phone services. Other services include directory enquiries, weather forecasts, competitions and ratings televoting. Some businesses, e.g. low-cost airlines, and diplomatic missions, such as the US Embassy in London or the UK Embassy in Washington, have also used premium-rate phone numbers for calls from the general public.
A toll-free telephone number or freephone number is a telephone number that is billed for all arriving calls. For the calling party, a call to a toll-free number from a landline is free of charge. A toll-free number is identified by a dialing prefix similar to an area code. The specific service access varies by country.
Phone fraud, or more generally communications fraud, is the use of telecommunications products or services with the intention of illegally acquiring money from, or failing to pay, a telecommunication company or its customers.
In the United Kingdom, telephone numbers are administered by the Office of Communications (Ofcom). For this purpose, Ofcom established a telephone numbering plan, known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, which is the system for assigning telephone numbers to subscriber stations.
The Australian telephone numbering plan governs the allocation of telephone numbers in Australia. It has changed many times, the most recent major reorganisation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority taking place between 1994 and 1998.
Telephone numbers in Japan consist of an area code, an exchange number, and a subscriber number.
Telephone numbers in Hong Kong are mostly eight-digit. Fixed land line numbers start with 2 or 3, mobile (cellular) phone numbers with 5, 6, 7 or 9, pager numbers with 7 and forwarding service with 8. Since the end of 1989, there have been no area codes within Hong Kong.
The Big Number Change addressed various issues with the telephone dialling plan in the United Kingdom, during the late-1990s and early-2000s.
Numbers on the Irish telephone numbering plan are regulated and assigned to operators by ComReg.
Widespread UK telephone code misconceptions, in particular brought on by the Big Number Change in 2000, have been reported by regulator Ofcom since publication of a report it commissioned in 2004.
The dialling plan for mobile networks and new landline operators is closed; all subscriber numbers must be dialled in full. For landline numbers starting with 02, the dialling plan used to be open; the trunk digit and area code could be omitted if the caller was in the same area code as the callee. However, starting May 3, 2008, all landline numbers must be dialled in full.
Phone sex is a conversation between two or more people by means of the telephone which is sexually explicit and is intended to provoke sexual arousal in one or more participants. As a practice between individuals temporarily separated, it is as old as dial telephones, on which no operator could eavesdrop. In the later 20th century businesses emerged offering, for a fee, sexual conversations with a phone sex worker.
The regulation of telephone numbers in Germany is the responsibility of the Federal Network Agency of the German government. The agency has a mandate to telecommunications in Germany and other infrastructure systems.
Telephone numbers in Canada follow the fixed-length format of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) of a three-digit area code, a three-digit central office code, and a four-digit station or line code. This is represented as NPA NXX XXXX.
National conventions for writing telephone numbers vary by country. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) publishes a recommendation entitled Notation for national and international telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and Web addresses. Recommendation E.123 specifies the format of telephone numbers assigned to telephones and similar communication endpoints in national telephone numbering plans.
An 809 scam is a form of phone fraud which exploits the tendency of telephone subscribers in Canada and the United States to presume that a number in the familiar North American Numbering Plan format of 1-NPA-NXX-XXXX is a domestic call at standard rates because of the absence of the 011- international prefix which normally indicates an overseas call.
Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom have a flexible structure that reflects their historical demands, starting from many independent companies through a nationalised near-monopoly, to a system that supports many different services, including cellular phones, which were not envisaged when the system was first built. Numbers evolved in a piecemeal fashion, with numbers initially allocated on an exchange-by-exchange basis for calls connected by manual operators. Subscriber numbers reflected demand in each area, with single digit telephone numbers in very rural areas and longer numbers in cities.
