555 (telephone number)

2025-10-29T14:25:21Z

72.211.61.205: /* New Zealand */Fixed typo

{{short description|Telephone number prefix}}
{{redirect2|5-5-5|KL5|an employment practice in the Philippines also known as "5-5-5"|Endo contractualization}}
{{redirect2|Klamath 5|Klondike 5||555 (disambiguation)}}
The [[telephone number]] prefix '''555''' is a central office code in the [[North American Numbering Plan]], used as the leading part of a group of 10,000 [[telephone number]]s, ''555-....'', in each [[numbering plan area]] (NPA) (area code). It has traditionally been used only for the provision of directory assistance, when dialing NPA-555-1212.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>555 is used in [[New Zealand]] as a free mobile telephone number to report road incidents.

The central office code is also used for [[fictitious telephone number]]s in [[North America]]n [[television]] shows, [[film]]s, [[video game]]s, and other media in order to prevent practical jokers and curious callers from bothering telephone subscribers and organizations by calling telephone numbers they see in works of fiction.

==Usage==

=== North America ===
In 1994, the [[North American Numbering Plan|North American Numbering Plan Administration]] began accepting applications for nationwide 555-numbers (outside the fictitious 555-01XX range). A number could be reserved for a single area code, for a region, or for nationwide service.<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www.cnac.ca/other_codes/555/555_line_numbers.htm
| title=555 Line Numbers
| publisher=[[Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium|CNAC]]
| access-date=2014-06-12}}</ref> In theory, a consumer from any area code could be invited to dial a seven-digit number such as 555-TAXI and the owners of that number could connect the call to a local car service. According to a 2003 ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' article, the desired functionality requires the cooperation of local phone authorities, and most phone companies have been reluctant to cooperate.<ref>{{cite web
| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/06/technology/personal-555-number-is-still-mostly-fiction.html
| title=Personal 555 Number Is Still Mostly Fiction
| last=Biederman
| first=Marcia
| date=2003-02-06
| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> In May 2016, the Industry Numbering Committee (INC) determined that the purpose for which this resource was intended had been accommodated by other information/communication technologies. As of September 2016, all 555 numbers have been returned to the NANPA inventory except 555-1212 (national use directory assistance) and 555-4334 (national use assigned).<ref>{{cite web
| url=https://www.nanpa.com/numbering/555-line-numbers
| title=555 Line Numbers
| publisher=[[North American Numbering Plan|NANP Administration]]}}</ref>

In 1996, Canadian telephone companies began promoting 555-1313 as "name that number", a pay-per-use reverse lookup which would give a subscriber name if the user entered an area code and a listed telephone number.<ref>{{cite book
| title=Canadian telco offers users a handy reverse directory. (British Columbia Telephone Co.)
| author=Meade, Peter
| date=1996-05-15
| publisher=America's Network}}</ref> The fifty-cent information number was initially heavily advertised in area codes 604 ([[BCTel]]), 416 ([[Bell Canada]]), 506 ([[NBTel]]), 902 ([[Maritime Telegraph and Telephone Company|Maritime T&T]]) and 709 ([[NewTel Communications|Newfoundland Tel]]), but was soon forgotten once Internet sites began providing free reverse lookup tools.

Use of 555 for anything other than 555-1212 style information numbers raises the problem that call cost is unclear to consumers; in theory, the numbers could be anything from [[toll-free telephone number|toll-free]] to [[premium-rate telephone number|premium]]. This complicates the provision of [[toll restriction]] to local subscribers.<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www.atis.org/niif/Docs/atis0300077.pdf
| title=ATIS-0300077: 555 Technical Service Interconnection Agreements
| date=September 2005
| publisher=[[Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions]]
| access-date=2014-06-12}}</ref>

=== New Zealand ===
In [[New Zealand]] the number *555 is a free mobile telephone number to report a road incident or an unsafe driver. The number goes to the [[New Zealand Police]] Communication Centre, but is given a lower priority than a [[111 (emergency telephone number)|111 emergency]] call (111 is an analogue of [[911 (emergency telephone number)|911]] in North America). When you call the police communicator will ask you, where you are, how long ago the incident happened, the vehicle licence plate and what is happening now. The information will be passed along to frontline police, but will often only result in a warning letter. Police still urge drivers to call 111 for more serious instances such as a serious motor vehicle crash or any instances where life is at risk.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Report a road incident or unsafe driver – *555 and Roadwatch |url=https://www.police.govt.nz/advice/driving-and-road-safety/report-road-incident-unsafe-driver#:~:text=Call%20*555%20FREE%20from%20a,lower%20priority%20than%20111%20calls. |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=New Zealand Police |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Huffadine |first=Leith |date=2017-10-13 |title=This is what happens when you call *555 to report bad driving |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/97753732/this-is-what-happens-when-you-call-555-to-report-bad-driving |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=www.stuff.co.nz}}</ref>

== Fictional usage ==
{{main|Fictitious telephone number}}
Telephone companies began encouraging the producers of television shows and movies to use the 555 prefix for fictional telephone numbers by the 1960s.<ref name="TelecomHeritage">{{cite news|url=http://telephonecollecting.org/code.htm|title=CODE 555 AND THE MOVIES|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040613223525/http://telephonecollecting.org/code.htm|archive-date=June 13, 2004|publisher=Australian Telephone Collectors Society Inc.|issue=27|author=Cuccia, Mark|newspaper=Telecom Heritage}}</ref> Two early examples include ''[[The Second Time Around (1961 film)|The Second Time Around]]'' (1961), which used 555-3485, and ''[[Panic in Year Zero!]]'' (1962), which used 555-2106. In television shows made or set in the mid-1970s or earlier, "KLondike 5" or "KLamath 5" reflects the old convention of using [[telephone exchange names]].

Before "555" or "KLondike-5" gained broad usage, scriptwriters would sometimes invent fake exchanges starting with words like "QUincy" or "ZEbra", as the letters "Q" and "Z" were not used on [[North American Numbering Plan#Alphabetic mnemonic system|the old dial phones]]. Numbers in the format [[Zenith number|"Zenith" X-....]], while not directly dialable, were not fictional. These were an early form of regional [[toll-free telephone number|tollfree number]] which required operator assistance.

Only 555-0100 through 555-0199 are now specifically reserved for fictional use; the other numbers have been reserved for actual assignment.<ref>{{cite web
| url=https://www.nanpa.com/sites/default/files/2024-07/ATIS-0300115.pdf
| title=555 NXX Line Number Reference Document
| publisher=[[Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions]]
| access-date=2019-09-09}}</ref>

555 use is restricted only in North America. In 1994, cartoonist [[Gary Larson]]'s ''[[The Far Side]]'' included a panel with graffiti of a 555 number by which [[prank call]]s could be made to [[Satan]]. In [[Telephone numbers in Australia|Australia]], 555 was at the time a standard exchange, and the Australian owner of the number became the subject of harassment, launching an unsuccessful lawsuit against Larson and his syndicate for defamation.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lawreport/laughs-and-litigation-taking-the-joke-too-far/3480402#transcript|title=Laughs and Litigation: Taking The Joke Too Far| date=2001-03-27| publisher=[[Radio National]]| access-date=2016-06-12}}</ref>

The 555 exchange is not reserved in area codes used for [[Toll-free telephone numbers in the North American Numbering Plan|toll-free phone numbers]]. This led to the video game ''[[The Last of Us (video game)|The Last of Us]]'' accidentally including the number to a phone-sex operator.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.houstonpress.com/arts/the-last-of-us-video-game-has-a-real-phone-sex-number-in-it-6389009|title=The Last of Us Video Game Has a Real Phone Sex Number in It|last=Rouner|first=Jef|date=June 28, 2013|access-date=December 8, 2020}}</ref>

The number "555-2368" (or 311-555-2368) is a carryover from the "EXchange 2368" ("Exchange CENTral") number common in telephone advertisements as early as the 1940s.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.myinsulators.com/commokid/telephones/1940s_telephone_ads_cont.htm| title=Telephone ads of the 1940s| author=The Phone Lady
| date=2001-10-25| access-date=2014-06-12}}</ref> "555-2368" is the phone number used by Jim Rockford in the TV series ''[[The Rockford Files]]'' (as seen during the opening credits),<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsWqth0NbDo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/jsWqth0NbDo| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live| title=Rockford Files Answering Machine Messages (complete season 2)| author=NBC Productions|website=[[YouTube]] | date=2014-06-21| access-date=2014-06-21}}{{cbignore}}</ref> in the TV series ''[[The Mod Squad]]'' (episode: "And a Little Child Shall Bleed Them") and the [[Ghostbusters]] (as seen during their TV commercial within the film).<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMmam5i03Vs |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/sMmam5i03Vs| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live| title=Full Ghostbusters TV Advert| date=Jun 23, 2010|publisher=whitetigerfilmz2|access-date=2020-02-19|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The number "1-800-555-2368" appears in a magazine Daniel Jackson is reading in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' (S04E13: "The Curse".)

555 numbers are mentioned directly in the 1993 action film ''[[Last Action Hero]]'', starring [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]. Danny Madigan (played by [[Austin O'Brien]]) tries to convince Schwarzenegger's character that he is inside a movie by pointing out the 555 exchange provides at most 9,999 available telephone numbers, insufficient for all the phone users in Los Angeles. Schwarzenegger's character replies, "That's why we have area codes", and O'Brien's character drops the subject.

The use of 555 numbers helps to avoid use of valid numbers in works of fiction or entertainment, which can lead people to call those numbers and bother their holders. [[Tommy Tutone]]'s song "[[867-5309/Jenny]]"<ref>{{cite news
| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PaVOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PvsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6320,11943| title=867-5309 is not Jenny| publisher=[[Lakeland Ledger]]| page=2A| date=1982-05-16| access-date=2014-06-12}}</ref> and the cinematic release of ''[[Bruce Almighty]]'' displaying 776-2323 as a number to call God<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-xpm-2011-03-29-sc-mov-0330-movie-phone-numbers-20110329-story.html|title=Hold the phone — that fake number works|first=Mark Caro|last=Caro|website=chicagotribune.com}}</ref> both led to [[misdialed call]]s in multiple area codes. God's number was changed to 555-0123 in the video release of the movie.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://filmstories.co.uk/features/when-bruce-almighty-gave-out-gods-phone-number/|title= When Bruce Almighty gave out God's phone number|website=Film Stories|date=September 7, 2021|author=Harrison, Mark}}</ref> In cities where it became popular, the 1966 song "[[634-5789]]" by Wilson Pickett and others caused many unwanted calls to actual subscribers who knew nothing about the song; many had to change their numbers. "[[777-9311]]" by [[The Time (band)|The Time]] used [[Dez Dickerson]]'s actual telephone number at the time the song was written, causing his phone to ring incessantly until he had his number changed. The [[Alicia Keys]] song "[[Diary (Alicia Keys song)|Diary]]" contains a real number in New York's [[area code 347]], an [[overlay plan|overlay]], but does not indicate an area code; the same number in some other area code is a common misdial.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dear-diary-2/|title=Dear Diary|website=Snopes.com|date=15 June 2010 }}</ref>

The prefix has also seen use in journalism about phone numbers, as in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''{{'}}s A-HED feature on the nomenclature of nominal degrees of intimacy: [https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/relationships/dating-contact-list-saving-numbers-f9869608 They're Dating, but He's Still Just 212-555-1234 in Her Contact List].

==See also==
* [[Domain name#Fictitious domain name|Fictitious domain name]]
* [[Val Verde (fictional country)|Val Verde]]
* [[Oceanic Airlines]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* {{cite web
|url = http://www.tvacres.com/add_coverpage.htm
|title = Addresses - Home & Business: Compilation of 555 numbers in movies
|publisher = [[TV Acres]]
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://archive.today/20130205095225/http://www.tvacres.com/add_coverpage.htm
|archive-date = 2013-02-05
}}

* {{cite web
| url=http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/345/why-do-phone-numbers-in-tv-shows-and-movies-all-start-with-555
| title=Why do phone numbers in TV shows and movies all start with 555?
| first=Cecil
| last=Adams
| date=1978-07-21
| publisher=[[The Straight Dope]]}}

[[Category:Cinema of the United States]]
[[Category:In-jokes]]
[[Category:Telephone numbers in the United States]]
[[Category:Placeholder names]]

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555 (telephone number)