Requiem for 7773456

When I started working in the VoIP industry way back in 1999, I was living in Manhattan and used to call the local Moviefone DID (2127773456) on a regular basis to find the movie show times.

Because it was so easy to remember, it became my ‘go-to’ number for making test calls.  Especially since there were local DIDs in most major metropolitan areas.  If I had to make multiple successive test calls, I could dial 212777345, 4157773456 and 2137773456 and easily determine which call was which in the resulting call traces.  Over the years, I would be surprised if I haven’t called Moviefone more than 5,000 times (I sometimes wondered if somebody at Moviefone ever noticed).

And so it was with genuine nostalgia when I heard last week that the number was being taken out of service, and as reported by the New York Times.  I suppose I knew it had to happen eventually, what with this  mobile Internet thing becoming so popular.   An yet, after 25 years it still seems too soon.  So please take a moment with me now to commemorate the passing of an era while I search for a new object d’test.