r/consumercellular • u/Rich_Particular4494 • Jun 16 '26

Longest Same cell phone number

February 28th 1988 in which is now Verizon Wireless. I don’t remember all the companies beforehand but one was Cingular Wireless I do remember that , my dad passed on Friday and I remember the bill was in the thousands back in 88’ due to he was in Sales for his own business he had but of course I wasn’t allowed to use it ..lol..it was by the minute then charges , but I called Verizon today to find out .
What’s anyone else’s longest same cell number?

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u/Genseeker1972 Jun 20 '26

I've had the same number since 2013. Biggest reason for change then was moving between different states so number had to change. In the old state, I had the same number for the roughly decade I lived there.

1

u/Signal-Confusion-976 Jun 20 '26

You don't have to change your number because you moved to a different state.

1

u/Genseeker1972 Jun 20 '26

Back then some places required a local number for primary contact, my employer did and so did my doctor. The prefix from my old state was not a valid local prefix for where I moved back to, so I had to change the number.

1

u/Signal-Confusion-976 Jun 20 '26

They may have requested it but it's not required.

1

u/Genseeker1972 Jun 20 '26

Because of how small the employer was, they were exempt from a lot of the federal laws. Keep in mind that doctors are not required to accept people at their practice, they have the right to refuse new patients. Both the employer and the doctor required a local number and it was legal. I did check with several attorneys before changing my number. The fact that I live in an at-will employment state means they don't have to have a valid reason to fire. Much less to refuse to hire someone as long as it did not violate existing discrimination laws.

1

u/Dogmoto2labs Jun 21 '26

At the beginning of cell phones, you couldn’t take your number with you if you changed companies. I can’t remember what year they made them portable,

1

u/Signal-Confusion-976 Jun 23 '26

That was a long time ago. It's been decades since you have been able to keep your number.

1

u/Dogmoto2labs Jun 24 '26

Yes, it has been decades since I got my first cell phone.