AT&T Concept Phone Keypads

They had focus groups do a number of tests including aesthetic preference and dialling speed before settling on the 3×3+1 configuration we know and love. It’s one of those little bits of experience design that seem lost to history — who could imagine someone actually designing a phone’s key layout! — but that we touch many times a day nearly 50 years later. Much like when the sound gets out of sync with the picture while watching a movie, trying to dial on a phone with an alternate layout is a real mind-bending exercise in concentration and focus. Just ask Nokia about the lack of success of their 7600 and 3650 products:

Nokia 7600 and 3650

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Speaking of the experience design of phone systems that we take for granted, AT&T was also responsible for designing the area code system we still use, originally called the North American Numbering Plan (NAMP). It might seem like the codes were randomly assigned — we’ll give 212 to New York City and 416 to Toronto! — there was actually a lot of logic behind it. The system was designed during the 1940s and went into effect in 1947, a time when everyone had rotary phones. Lower numbers meant shorter “dial pulls” for each number dialed, and so the codes were assigned based on population:

In 1947, states and provinces that had a single area code we assigned three digit codes with 0 as the middle number, such as 203 for Connecticut and 305 for Florida . There were 86 area codes at that time.

States and provinces that had more than one area code distributed to them were given three digit codes with 1 as the middle number, such as 916 and 213 for various sections of California , and 212 and 518 for various sections of New York.

The first and third digits were allotted according to population density in the city or region the area code was going to, with the most populated areas getting the lowest numbers. The New York City area, for example, was assigned 212, while the surrounding suburbs were assigned 914.

The highly-specialized AreaCodes.com site has a full listing of all of the original area codes if you’re curious.

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