Same mobile number for x years

[coles525]

Once was with orange: 0414?

Droppable house / mobile phone.

Inside house = local landline rates

Out of house/milk bar: turn into mobile rates.

Cutrently: 0411 with telstra (once optus).

 

[moa999]

Some good history on Whirlpool as well
https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/796677

 

[cambriamarsh]

In NZ with 021 xx_ since late 97 when it was Bell South, before Vodafone bought them out. The phone came with the job and I was able to take it with me when my job went to AU. I won't be letting it go.

 

[JohnK]

I have had mobile phone since 1996. Or was that 1994? That was personal but work paid for the phone. It was a Nokia brick, it was digital with mobile number of 0414xx_xx_ and the company was a Vodafone reseller/parter. Forgotten their original name and from memory they were a Victorian company and they now trade as Just mobile and we still use them for prepaid mobile.

Around 1999 I got a phone from One Mobile with a number I could not remember. I gave my original phone and number to my brother as he was on analogue and that was going out of service and he still has that number today.

Not long after One Mobile went out of business and I went with Vodafone and got 0405xx_xx_ as my mobile number. Not sure numbers were portable that early in the piece.

So my brother has my original mobile number which is ~20 years old and I never forget and I have a newer number which is ~16 years old.

 

[ausfox]

I was allocated my 9 digit mobile number in I think 1991 starting 018 and used it on a brick which would not last 8 hours on standby let alone if you used it. With the shift to 10 digit numbers the 018 went to 0418 with the last 6 digits retained. Still have the number. Mrs. ausfox has 0427 with the 6 last numbers the same. Oh life is so simple.

 

[Deleted member]

Like ausfox , I have had my number since I got my first ( second hand reconditioned) brick , which came with spare battery, so long ago I can hardly remember. I think Australian airlines were still flying. And Alan Bond was still popular! About 1988? I will need to check with Mrs GPH to be certain

 

[Mal]

1996 for me, I think. It's a good number and no reason to drop it. Even though I live in the UK, I still have an AU number - just don't expect to get through to me unless I really want to get your call, or I am in Australia.

Where many people missed out (including me!), was the time when numbers were free for all and you could get easy to remember numbers easily. Deregulation meant you could then use them with any carrier!

 

[Ansett]

Not as early as many of you had same number since around 1995 and been with Vodafone all that time.

Can remember my first phone it was a Phillips in car phone that had Horn alert (Now Illegal) used to scare the living daylights out of me.

 

[Warks]

Ah I remember car horns going off for mobiles (car phones)!

I vaguely recall there being 019 numbers too - I guess these became 0419.

I remember when the analogue signal was turned off and everyone went digital - that's when the drop-outs really became a problem. I had tradesmen saying they'd been "sold a pup" going to digital as their calls dropped out everywhere. Analogue only needed a few towers to cover huge areas. Digital looked like a dud. Of course we didn't know that 20 years later the last thing anyone would do on a mobile is talk.

 

[Buzzard]

Some years ago I used to get a new mobile number several times a week. It was not unusual for me to have over 200 numbers a year, not to mention being watched and followed.

 

[marki]

Some years ago I used to get a new mobile number several times a week. It was not unusual for me to have over 200 numbers a year, not to mention being watched and followed.

? How come

 

[whatmeworry]

Some years ago I used to get a new mobile number several times a week. It was not unusual for me to have over 200 numbers a year, not to mention being watched and followed.

TIL Buzzard is Jason Bourne.

 

[horseman]

Not sure exactly but it would be around 1999-2000

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

I had an early digital service on 0407. My recollection was that Telstra issued 0407/0408/0409 first then 0417/0418/0419. Since then there are weird ones like 0457 etc.
My first mobile was pre digital, 018 service that was converted to an 0408 number. My mum has that now.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

TIL Buzzard is Jason Bourne.

Or paranoid schizophrenic (lol)

 

[Deleted member]

Or paranoid schizophrenic (lol)

Even paranoids have enemies LOL

 

[Buzzard]

? How come

I purchased hundreds of prepaid starter kits for $0.01 each. I think they had $25 credit on them.
Use for outbound calls then throw the sim away when the credit is used up.
There were a few other tricks you could get up to as well but it's all over now.

 

[mhen]

I bought my daughter her first mobile 18 years ago and when I was offered a choice of numbers one of them had my birthday in it so I chose that one to help her remember, never failed.

 

[Warks]

At my former employer some go-getter in IT shopped around for a better plan for our mobiles - we had a huge team of field reps - and claimed to have saved $50K by switching from Telstra to Optus. What this genius failed to realise is half our sales team were rural based so hardly had any coverage which made them very unhappy. What was much worse than this was that it was in the days when switching carriers meant switching numbers. Imagine changing the business cards and contact details for the entire team. We had their numbers on our brochures as well. Six months later we switched back and everything had to change again. I'd hate to guess how much that cost.

The genius who did it got promoted before the fallout occurred and then wisely found himself another job.

 

[JessicaTam]

I have had almost the same number since Mobile Innovations (Vodafone agent) started in 1997 (?) I had to change one digit when I changed plans. The last five digits are still part of my name, though.