WEBVTT - 1-800-PODCAST 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:02.640 Hey, everybody, it's us and we're here to talk to 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:05.160 you about get this our book. We have a Stuff 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:07.520 you Should Know book coming out this November and you're 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:09.479 going to love it and you can preorder it now. 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:14.080 That's right. It's called Stuff you Should Know, Collen, an 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:18.360 incomplete compendium of mostly interesting things, and it's been a 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:20.880 lot of fun to work on and we're really, i 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:23.320 mean genuinely excited about how this thing has come together. 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:27.720 It's twenties six chunky Harry chapters that are just going 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:30.159 to knock your socks clean off. And yes, Chuck, we 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:34.280 are indeed proud of this book. It is truly, indubitably 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:36.640 the first Stuff you Should note book and it's coming 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.319 out this November and you can order it now, pre 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:42.960 order everywhere you get books, So do that, and we 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:47.199 thank you in advice. Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:56.120 a production of My Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:59.320 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, there's Charles W. 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:02.320 Chuck probably there's Jerry over there, and this is Stuff 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:07.560 you Should Know. Thank you for calling my eight hundred podcasts. 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:10.600 Go ahead, Collar, Oh, that would be great, Chuck, right 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:13.120 to get that. We need to get that before we 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:19.039 released this episode, because some somebody, somebody, maybe a rest 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:23.480 boorg person is going to snag that and we'll have 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:25.920 to pay through the nose for it. I thought there 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:28.920 were so many very interesting things about this very seemingly 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:34.200 mundane topic. And uh, I just think it's interesting that 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:39.440 eight hundred numbers seem like something that would have gone 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:43.280 the way of nine hundred numbers, but they're still around 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:46.080 in the days where the Internet is thriving and the 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:49.040 Yellow Pages or I don't even did they still have 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:52.920 Yellow Pages? I think, yeah, I don't know. I think 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:56.800 I think I remember this one comedian years ago, I 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:58.880 was talking about the phone books when people are still 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:02.280 getting phone books, and he was like, the joke was 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:06.480 something about dropping out. Let me drop off four pound, 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:10.519 very small portion of the Internet on your front board. 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:14.600 But then they just stopped doing that altogether. Yeah, I 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:16.640 know that they were doing it as recently as a 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:19.000 few years back, because they say would get dropped off 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:21.240 once in a while at the mailboxes that are condo 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:25.639 and um so I mean within the last ten years 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:28.359 for sure, five years maybe, I think is the last 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:30.400 time I saw one. So maybe they stopped because I 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:32.639 haven't seen it in a little while, but yes, so 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:36.560 toll free numbers, eight hundred numbers, they persist, they do, 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:40.280 and they really do. So this this how stuff works article. 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.200 I think the last the last number they had was 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.360 from two thousand eight, and it said that there were 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:50.800 twenty four million working toll free phone numbers in North America. 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:52.360 And if you don't know what we're talking about, we're 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:55.320 talking about free phone numbers. Apparently in the United States 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.200 we call it toll free numbers. Everywhere else in the 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:00.519 world is called or the English speaking roll. At least 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:05.359 it's free phone numbers. So, um, there were twenty four 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:09.160 million in two thousand and eight. But get this, since 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:15.840 the advent of eight hundred numbers, they've released one, two, three, four, five, six, 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:22.080 seven different prefixes of toll free numbers, everything from eight hundred, eight, seven, 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:23.840 seven all the way down to eight three three is 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:26.359 where we're at now. And I did it, did a 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:28.320 little math. I'm kind of proud of myself for this one. 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:30.040 Chuck Sell. If you bear with me for a second, 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:35.240 for a seven digit number, you have nine million total 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:40.560 possible combinations because it starts technically with one million and 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:45.200 goes up to nine million, nine ninety nine, So you 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:48.160 have nine million total combinations in there. So each of 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.920 those prefixes allows for nine million combinations. So there's at 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:55.320 least there's seven prefixes. That means that there's at least 0:03:55.360 --> 0:04:00.640 fifty four million plus a toll free number is in 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:04.240 use in America to day. To justify that many prefixes, 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:08.640 you know what, I can't wait for what that mass 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:14.120 person to write in and correct you do it? No, no, no, Josh, 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:17.240 that's you forgot about blank. I will argue with you 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:20.080 all day long. I got this right. I got it 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:23.760 right for once. Uh, lots of toll free numbers, and 0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:25.560 like you said, they go down to eight three three 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:28.520 Now I think eventually they're going to get eight to 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:30.680 two eight eight oh eight eight seven at eight eight 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:35.320 nine involved never eight one one or eight nine nine. 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:40.200 Apparently yeah, supposedly. Uh, someone found an ancient text in 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:44.880 Aramaic that predicted that if eight one one were ever instituted, 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:49.320 that's when the universe ends. Can't do it so when 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:52.440 you dial a number. What this is all about, and 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:57.640 actually two things. What it used to be about was 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:02.120 largely for when calls costs money to make long distance 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:06.400 it was a way to route that charge back to 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:11.400 the person you're calling. Yeah, it was automatic collect calls. 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:14.680 That's right. So if you were you know, they advertise 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:16.200 it as toll free. You don't have to pay a 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:18.719 toll on it. We're gonna eat that cost and you'll 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:21.880 know it because it's an eight hundred number. Then, over 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:26.400 the years it became more and more of a sort 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:29.080 of just if you want to be a legitimate business, 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:33.080 and especially a regional business or national or international business, 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:35.880 then you kind of had to have an eight hundred number. 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:41.400 Even once tolls, uh, phone charges and things and long 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:43.960 distance kind of became a thing of the past, it 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:47.159 just became sort of a i mean, sort of a 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:49.760 calling card, for lack of a better word, as Hey, 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.679 we're a legit, big company. We've got an eight hundred number. 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:57.960 We're the third largest maker of bonking trundle beds. Here's 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.760 our eight hundred number. And in the old days, I 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:04.359 mentioned the yellow pages where you would advertise it's so 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.840 quaint to think about now is where you would advertise 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:10.440 in this big yellow book about your business and let 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:12.680 your fingers do the walk in. But back then it 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.520 was also eight hundred numbers were away that you could 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:18.840 save money by not having to advertise in the yellow 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:22.599 pages because you've got you know, one eight hundred you 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:26.200 know house painter right. Or this article, this how stuff 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:31.479 Works article cites a construction company called Asphalt Sources, Inc. 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:34.560 Which got I guess that catchy eight hundred number and 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.720 downsized their Yellow Pages add and saved more than twenty 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:42.320 seven thousand dollars by doing so. And to be honest, 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:45.320 it probably didn't hurt that they were also cited in 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:48.120 a house stuff Works article about toll free numbers. Yeah 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:51.160 that was that was clunky, but definitely an example of 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:54.400 how things used to be. Yeah, but but that's the 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:56.320 point of eight hundred numbers. And that's also from what 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:58.800 I can tell. The reason that they still persist today 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.320 is that if you have a catch eight hundred number, 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:03.680 like you said, it makes you seem like a player 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:07.000 as far as business goes. But also, um, it's a 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:10.600 way to advertise, like I haven't seen the Empire today 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:14.240 add in three to five years, but I can tell 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.040 you that the numbers still eight hundred five eight eight 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:21.400 to three hundred Empire today. You remember that one cars 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:24.720 for kids? I don't remember that one in eight seven 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:28.080 seven cars for kids. I've never heard that one, really, 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.000 but I would probably remember that one. Yeah, I mean, 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:32.640 and we'll get to that a little in a little 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:36.280 more depth. Those are called vanity numbers, UM, but yeah, 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:40.440 and there are statistics and they are pretty um stark 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.000 and how much people remember that compared to just some 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:46.239 regular old number. Right, So there's reasons for eight hundred 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:49.560 numbers and the fact that they're still around. There's reasons 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.680 for that too. But they started all the way back 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:56.080 in seven. And it's like you said, it was a 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.120 way to UM to make it easy for people to 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:02.480 place collect calls, which was there were two ways to 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:04.600 to make a long distance call. Either you paid for 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:07.040 it yourself it showed up on your phone bill, or 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.480 you could call the person you were calling collect, which 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:12.680 meant that you could you dialed the operator you said 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:15.679 you wanted to place a collect call. The operator called 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:18.480 that number for you and said, hey, I've got Josh 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:21.880 and Chuck on the line. Um, will you accept the charges? 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:24.640 Is what they asked, and the other person would inevitably 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.280 say no and hang up. If it had been somebody else, 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:29.760 they might have said yes, and then that person who 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.880 was receiving the call, they would be build for that. 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.360 That takes a lot of time and effort for a 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.319 phone call or for a phone company's operators to do that. 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:40.720 So the whole point of eight hundred numbers was to 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.520 automate the process, to take the operator out of it. 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:46.720 And so the person would say, I'm receiving these calls 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.720 at this number, go ahead and build me for them, 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:52.720 just without even asking. Yeah, and and I think that 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:57.080 story illustrates why I believe my theory is correct that 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:00.480 Gen X is the greatest generation. So great man, because 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:04.240 we we saw those early days that now feel like 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.360 we were in the nineteen twenties with stuff like this 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:12.560 and three TV channels growing up or three major networks rather. 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:17.160 But we're also we're young enough to where the um 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:22.760 technological boom didn't confuse us or pass us by or 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.440 pass us by, and we we've got we could dip 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:28.040 our toe into both. You know, we could grow up 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:31.800 on seventies music and also go to a E. D 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:37.160 M concert right without like being weird. Yeah, I think 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:39.640 you're right, Chuck. We we might be the greatest generation 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.640 where the perfect generation perfect, That's right, I guess greatest 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:47.320 generation is taken. So yeah, of course, um in sixty 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:49.560 seven it started, like you said, in the very first 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:52.680 business to have an eight hundred number apparently was a 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:57.280 company that just hosted numbers for other companies, mainly like 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:01.200 car rentals and hotels and stuff like that. I think 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.719 they were like a call center. Yeah, and so they 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:05.680 went out of business, and then all those businesses that 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:07.800 were using them said, oh, well, we gotta get eight 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:11.000 hundred numbers now ourselves. Right. But the thing is is 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:13.600 a T and T was the only one with eight 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:15.720 hundred numbers because back in the day, a T and 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:20.800 T also known as mob Bell was like the basically 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.760 had a monopoly as far as telephones were concerned in 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:28.440 the United States. And so yeah, and so, um, if 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:30.920 you wanted an eight hundred number, you went to a 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:33.079 T and T. You got your eight hundred number, and 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:35.960 then you paid through the nose for it. They would 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:39.200 charge many, many times more than they would have charged 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:42.720 the caller had the caller just had been build themselves 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:46.200 for placing this long distance call, just for this toll 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:49.640 free service. Um. And that's just the way it was 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:55.880 until I believe it was four when truss Buster Ronald 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.800 Reagan saw to it that mob Bell was broken up 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:01.960 into all the regional else Yeah. So then, of course 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:05.000 when that happened, that opened up the world of competition 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.160 and the telephone industry in the United States kind of 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.880 for the first time. And then, of course what happens 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:13.920 is the cost to get an eight hundred number goes 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:16.440 way way down. You can get a lot more businesses 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:18.480 getting them, and then it just sort of became the 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:23.640 standard for any business that wanted to be even like 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:26.240 I said, a regional business. There was also a really 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:29.960 big innovation that gets overlooked too that was actually created 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:32.199 by a guy named Roy Webber who was an a 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.800 T and T engineer, and Roy Webber basically figured out 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:39.439 how to use eight hundred numbers, not as phone numbers 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:43.520 that were connected to a certain point in the telephone system, 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:47.160 but as a basically a code that could be translated 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:50.800 at a database into instructions. Are like, hey, here's this 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:52.880 number they put in, what are the instructions for this? 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:56.400 And in doing so he figured out how to make 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:00.560 toll free numbers go from regional to truly now, because 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.880 up until nineteen eighty you had to have a regional 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:06.120 toll free number for each region, and if you were 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.760 a national company like say Hurts or something like that, 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.200 you had a dozen or more toll free numbers that 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:15.760 you had to manage. Thanks to Roy Weber, who patented this, 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:18.320 but a T and T owns the patent um, so 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.600 he saw jack from it besides the salary um. This 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:24.840 changed everything and made a truly national thing to where 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:28.480 one one single eight hundred number could serve the entire 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.360 country for a business. And it made the whole thing 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:35.480 a lot um technically smoother too, from what I understand. Yeah, 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:39.080 that was sort of one of two big things that happened. Um. 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:40.839 The other one was in nineteen ninety four when the 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.800 law was passed that said you can port your phone 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:47.120 number between carriers. So if you're with one carrier and 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:48.840 you're not too happy back in the old days pre 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.840 ninety four, that meant you had to change your telephone number, 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:54.560 and that was no good for a business that was 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:57.840 trying to grow or a business that was already big, especially, 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:02.120 And so that law ga and teed that portability, Uh, 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:03.960 you could take your phone number with you, and that 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:06.199 was a really big, big kind of sea change in 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:08.800 the industry. Yeah, you could pick up your phone number 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.839 and carry it across land to the next body of water. 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.880 That's right. Should we take a break? Yeah, all right, 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:43.000 let's do that, okay, chuck um. So we're at when 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:45.439 we could poured our phone numbers. Yeah, And that was 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.000 kind of the last big change. That's when things started 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:50.480 growing so much that they had to I think in 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:55.320 ninety six they introduce eight eight. It seems like every 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:59.599 couple of years they started introducing new um what do 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:04.520 they call prefixes? Yeah, yeah, prefix exchanges. So we're down 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:07.079 to eight three three, right, I think that's where we 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:11.640 are currently. And then I've never seen that I have not, 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:13.560 not that I've ever noticed. But now I don't I 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.080 don't even pay attention. I don't call anything. I just 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:19.000 go online if I have to call out call. But 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:21.160 I don't like it at all, And most of the 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:23.840 time when I do, I'm just looking it up on 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:26.600 my phone and clicking like the call thing. I very 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:30.480 rarely type in a number anymore. And yet, bizarrely, E 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.280 numbers haven't gone anywhere, and again, apparently it's because of 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:37.160 the the whole um marketing thing UM, which is why 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.640 they're still around today. And then one other kind of 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:45.520 like um connection to the information age, the age of 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:49.440 the Internet and computers and all that stuff. Um that 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:52.600 eight hundred numbers have is that there was a period 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:57.680 from about two thousand seven, eight nine maybe up until 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:01.760 about two fourteen where the cons sept of uh uh, 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:06.440 say like a provider paying for your data when you 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:08.480 went on too a certain website, say they had a 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:10.920 website where they wanted to teach you all about their 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:15.200 new phones or something like that. You would not be 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.240 you you wouldn't be using any data while you were 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:21.040 on that site. And they originally called it one eight 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:24.360 data for interesting, and then they dropped that around two 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:29.000 fift and that was that. So here's something that I 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:34.440 found that is so boring, that I found so weirdly fascinating, 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:40.320 and that is the notion of the responsible Organization. Uh 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:44.680 maybe it's because it's the name. It just sounds really weird. 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:49.920 It sounds like a scientology like subsection or something the 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:55.040 rest org. So when you call a well, first of 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:56.840 all, all all these all these numbers, all these eight hundred 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.880 numbers are housed in a database called the eight hundred 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:03.840 Service Management System, the SMS eight hundred, and they know 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:09.160 every single exchange of the eight hundred variation and if 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:12.800 it's available, if it's being used, and how to route them. 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:16.000 And if you want one of these, you have to 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:20.240 contact something called a responsible organization. And that's just not 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:24.320 a descriptor like alright, I'll contact UNI SEF because they're 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:28.800 pretty responsibles. It's called a responsible organization. It's it's basically 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:33.000 like a domain name registrar for telephone for eight hundred numbers. 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:37.200 And it could be a company that does this, or 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:39.680 you could be a human being at home in your 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:43.840 basement that has set yourself up to be a rest org. Yeah, 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:47.680 you just have to be certified by the FCC. Um, 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:49.920 I'm not sure how. I didn't get to see how. 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:53.280 But once you are certified, then you have access to 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:56.640 this database and you can legally say, now this number 0:16:56.680 --> 0:17:02.880 is now taken by this person, right as nicely. Right, Um, 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:06.600 they're watching you, and if if you help an old 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.159 lady or man across the street in front of the 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:13.280 FCC building in DC, they take notice you're responsible. Just 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:16.800 one big test. But the the rest borg, I think 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:22.000 what bothers me is that stupid abbreviation for yeah, rest 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:24.560 boorg and the O is capitalized even though it's one 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:28.520 word and as an abbreviation. But the point is it 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:31.200 can be anybody. At first, it was just phone companies 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:33.120 that were able to do that, and then it kind 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.520 of became more democratized in the nineties. Um, and that 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:39.600 from that point, at the moment it became democratized, it 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:44.840 became corrupt almost immediately. Yeah, I mean corrupt in the 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.920 sense that, um, it's I think some ne'er do well, 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:53.720 some non responsible people. Hey, this would be a pretty 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:57.040 easy way to take advantage of people, um by acting 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:00.280 as a middleman and charging someone fifty bucks to say, 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:02.600 I can find them a toll three number. Here you go, 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:05.520 here's your number, right, which that in and of itself, 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:08.359 there's no problem with that, And apparently the SEC doesn't 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:10.040 have any problems with that. If you set yourself up 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:12.800 as a service, if you're really doing it. Yes, so 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:15.199 if you if you say, okay, you can come to 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:17.600 my website and you can look up a number and 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:19.280 I will try to find it for you, and if 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:21.480 it's available, I will I will get it for you, 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:23.280 and I'm going to charge you a fee for that. 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:27.520 There's nothing wrong with that morally, legally or otherwise. The 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:31.400 problem comes in where some of these rest boards say yes, 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:34.160 it's fifty bucks to search, and then oh, yeah, this 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:36.800 this number that ends in pain p A I in 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:41.560 that's gonna cost you an extra grand. That totally flies 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:45.480 in the face of the FCC rules surrounding phone numbers 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:48.160 of any kind, including toll free numbers, which is that 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:51.480 they're they're meant to be totally neutral. You're not supposed 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.359 to be able to profit off of a phone number whatsoever. Um. 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:56.200 You can profit off of like the search and all 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:59.560 that stuff, but a particular phone number is not. Its 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:01.679 supposed to be doled out on a first come, first 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:07.680 serve service basis with zero zero dollars attached to it whatsoever. 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.080 And that's just not how it works. Yeah, so you 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:15.800 can't goose somebody if Dr Paine once eight d or 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:19.240 tea pain, tea pain, tooth pain, No, just tea pain. 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:23.239 Your dentists can't get that one because t Pain's got it. Well, 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:24.960 they like you might get it, but they can't pay 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:28.320 extra for it. It's first come, first served always. Um. 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:33.240 You were only allowed to subscribe to the amount of 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:35.560 toll free numbers that you actually intend to use, so 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:37.679 you can't just go get a bunch, like lock up 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:40.600 a bunch, kind of like you can do with domain names. Actually, 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:42.639 now that they think about it, yeah, you can't do 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:45.560 that with eight hundred numbers. Can't do it. Uh. You 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:49.080 also to prevent this kind of hoarding, the mandate that 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.560 you allocate that reserved number within eight months, So it's 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.200 got I guess it's got to be in use within deadlines. 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:58.560 They have terms for this. Actually, brokering is selling and 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:03.080 profiting from numbers. There's hoarding, and then there's warehousing. Warehousing 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:06.080 is where you you take numbers even though there's there's 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:09.240 no one that you're directly getting at four. And then 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.320 hoarding is getting a bunch of numbers, sitting on them 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:14.240 and selling them. And this is a big no no. 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:17.960 But for a very long time it seemed to UM 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:20.679 the FCC and the people running the FEC that it 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:24.520 was not worth enforcing until I guess it got kind 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:28.960 of um kind of wild westy, and there was a 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:33.280 company called I T Connections that was fine three point 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:37.720 seven million dollars into the Oh yeah, these are all 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:40.239 like spam kings who came up with a sideline of 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:43.600 like selling telephone numbers, and their whole thing is no, 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:46.640 they're just performing a service. And then when the FEC says, 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:49.399 well then why isn't your service the same regardless of 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:52.680 any number, they say, well, this is all just supplying demand. Well, 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:55.320 there's not supposed to be any supplying demand. It's supposed 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:59.159 to be first come, first serve um. But that's and 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:01.840 apparently they just look the other way until I believe 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:05.119 two thousand seven ten, when the I T connect or 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:08.800 Connection Company got hit with that fine. You know, those 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:14.920 types of places discussed me more than just about anything. Yeah. Yeah, 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:17.280 it's the ones that like, uh, you know what I'm 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:20.239 talking about, Like the people that are like looking just 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:24.880 looking for the loopholes to exploit so they can rip 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:27.600 someone off the Yeah, the kind of people who carry 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:29.399 like a neck brace in their back seat at all 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:35.359 times in cases, or like I P trolls and uh yeah, 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:37.080 I mean we can't go down that road too much. 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:39.920 But the podcast industry, you know, kind of went through 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:42.120 a pretty famous situation like that a few years ago. 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:45.679 And I don't know, man, people that just just go 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:48.800 out and do some hard work. Yeah, you know, stop 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:53.359 stop speculating, don't look for the angle, right, do you 0:21:53.359 --> 0:21:56.520 know to get rich? Yeah, because you're not creating anything. 0:21:56.520 --> 0:21:58.880 You're just sucking the life out of stuff. God, it's 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:02.040 just so upsetting. Uh. Like you said, the FCC wasn't 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:04.200 paying a lot of attention. So these things have been 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:08.800 sold on eBay two at big fat price tags. Um. 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:13.480 And beyond just the FCC not paying attention is apparently 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:15.880 there's rest boards. It's it's just hard to keep track 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:18.480 and they can be disorganized. There's no real system to 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:21.439 get it all cleaned up, and so inadvertently this can 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:24.800 happen to Yeah. There was one famous case though, two 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:28.080 that that went to circuit court. I think maybe I 0:22:28.119 --> 0:22:31.080 don't remember, but there was a Mercedes dealer in in 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:36.360 Minneapolis and St. Paul who had since the eighties eight 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:40.000 hundred Mercedes, and it went to his gold his Yeah, 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:43.440 when he said that, he think he he cites that 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:47.280 as reviving um just kind of a ho hum Mercedes 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:49.919 dealership that that phone number. So he wasn't about to 0:22:49.920 --> 0:22:52.359 give it up. When Mercedes came around and said, hey, 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:56.199 we want that for our national customer service, he said no, 0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:58.639