Why do telephones have letters on the numbers?

Question

Helpful to have phone numbers that have a word in them, but which came first?

In: Technology

Answer 1

When I was growing up, the exchange you were on had a name. Ours was Hickory, so anyone in my area dialing a number would stat with an H and an I, then the number. For example, HI3-3799. They were party lines and sometimes you would pick up the phone and someone else was already using it, so you’d have to wait until they were finished.