Same mobile number for x years

[Warks]

I realised today I've had the same mobile number since 2000, some 15 years ago now. It was my work mobile - I never had a personal mobile - which I inherited from a rep who'd been made redundant. I used to get calls for him for a couple of years. When I left work there some seven years ago they let me take my number with me so it's become my business/personal mobile number (self-employed).

I was pretty late to getting a mobile so I was wondering how long anyone here had had the same number. When did we go to digital numbers? I recall mobiles in the early-mid 90s started with 018 for Telstra and 015 for Optus on analogue. I did have a bag phone for work in another job back then but then went without a mobile for five years when I left. When numbers went digital they all started with 04xx - did anyone transport an analogue number over?

 

[blackcat20]

I've had mine since 1999. I've taken the number back and forth between carriers. Back then there werent that many mobiles around and we got to choose the number.

 

[rainbowgirl]

I've had my mobile number 0411xx_xx_ since November 1999. Back then you had to change the first few numbers if you changed provider but by the time I had to change provider you could port the exact number over without any changes.

I started with Onetel, was automatically changed to Optus when Onetel collapsed, ported to a Telstra reseller a few years ago and then recently ported back to Optus.

 

[rainbowgirl]

My partner has had the same 04xx_xx_xx number longer than me. I think his goes back to around 1996.

 

[chelzmalee]

Had mine since 2006. Parents have had theirs since phones changed to digital.

I changed my number a few times before that, due to bullying from people at school. Last change was due to an ex boyfriend!

 

[Major]

Mine is an 018 number from the early 90s which is now 0418. The last 6 numbers have remained the same. Prior to that I had a 007 number

 

[coriander]

I got my numbers almost as soon as digital phones came out, both in 0419 and 0411 versions. However, my 0411 number (my favourite locomotive and wheel arrangement thereof) had actually been taken, so every week I rang it to see if it was still live. After 6 months, I got the message "Optus regrets the number you are calling has been disconnected....." Hurrah! Rang Optus and secured the number and have had it ever since. Had to be early-mid-90s as my then new wife also secured her mobile number then.

I remember my analogue mobile phone as an indestructible NEC P3. I think our first digital mobiles were Motorola flip phones with sim cards as large as credit cards, battery life of multiples of days and again virtually indestructible.

 

[Buzzard]

+1 and I have had our numbers 0413 xx_ xx_ and 0401 xx_ xx_ since the late 1990's.
Back then Optus Pre Paid was known as Optus Express and I still have the original packaging the SIM came in.

I am still with Optus Pre Paid but now on my second "plan" which Optus advised me not to change from (it's now an obsolete but quite goodplan). Some years back +1 went to Amaysim unlimited. She talks a lot.

 

[RooFlyer]

I've had my mobile number 0411xx_xx_ since November 1999. Back then you had to change the first few numbers if you changed provider but by the time I had to change provider you could port the exact number over without any changes.

<snip>.

I'm also an 0411 person, same number from at least 1997, from fallible memory.

 

[blackcat20]

Mine is 0409... and my mobile number is almost exactly the same as my home number (by design).

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

We have 0417 numbers, both drron, our son and me - have had them over 25 years now - so long ago I cant remember what year ! but have always been with Telstra - they provided the best coverage for country areas back in the dim dark past.

 

[RooFlyer]

We have 0417 numbers, both drron, our son and me - have had them over 25 years now - so long ago I cant remember what year ! but have always been with Telstra - they provided the best coverage for country areas back in the dim dark past.

And still do (Tasmania).

 

[Bindibuys]

Yep, had the same number since getting first phone, hubby is 0409.. and I am 0418...
Even landlines around here are fun. We all have the same first 5 digits, so you only have to remember the last 3 digits for any neighbors.

 

[Warks]

So which were the earliest prefixes? Mine is 0419 and someone commented to me once that it was one of the older numbers. As I said I inherited my number so it had been around a while.

I remember all those 90s ads for different 'carriers' like Digicall - annoying, incessant radio ads.

 

[coriander]

So which were the earliest prefixes?

0418, 0419 for Telstra,
0411 for Optus.

 

[moa999]

As above,

Telstra and Optus had 018 and 015 analogue ranges, which were converted to 0418 and 0415 as their respective ranges.
Think Telstras next range was 0419.

I have an initial Vodafone 0414 number (circa 1998) which I believe was their first series, which has been with Voda, Telstra, Optus and TPG (Optus and Voda)

 

[coriander]

As above,

Telstra and Optus had 018 and 015 analogue ranges, which were converted to 0418 and 0415 as their respective ranges.
Think Telstras next range was 0419.

I don't recall seeing 0415 in the 90s.

I have an initial Vodafone 0414 number (circa 1998) which I believe was their first series

I was trying to remember who the third carrier was in the 90s that had 0414 - wasn't it Hutchinson-Telecom (or was it Orange), which was bought out by Vodafone? I remember one of my kid's playmate's parent who said he was sent out from UK to head up / be involved in Vodafone's startup bragging that he was able to buy his wife and himself matching Porsches within 3 months of arriving here because of the money he was making.

EDIT: Yes according to Google (so it must be right), it was Hutchison Telecom and the "3" brand that became part of Vodafone.

 

[Buzzard]

There is some information here:

www.acma.gov.au

Hopefully thre link works.

Edit: Maybe not. Just Google [h=3]Numbering: Structure of Australia's telephone ... - ACMA[/h]

 

[Colin 2905]

Mrs 2905 has only ever had one mobile number, when I bought her a Motorola GSM brick back in June 1994. Back then it was "Telecom MobileNet", and she started with "Flexiplan 20". (I still have the original paperwork, and the brick, but the batteries have long since died.)

I, on the other hand, have had (and still have) more mobile numbers over the years than I've had hot dinners, but I finally settled on a "main" one about seven or eight years ago.

 

[mannej]

I am fairly sure that I received my first mobile in 2000 whilst in year 7? I have kept the 0421 number even since.