What’s in a number?

On more than one occasion, people have mentioned things like “I
have your cell number,” thinking that our phone number (774-490-7314)
was a cell number instead of a home number. My only guess is that
since the area code is 774, and the numbers Verizon gives land lines
are still in the 508 area code (I think), that it must be a phone number that
isn’t a land line, and thus a cell number. (Verizon owns most of the
508 area code, leaving the newer overlapping 774 number for newer
phone companies, like our VoIP provider.)

But it really strikes me as odd that people parse phone numbers like
that. Certainly it used to be possible to parse a number to get a
physical location, which was useful for determining toll charges. But
nowadays, with cell phones, VoIP lines, and number portability between
locations and phone providers, the number has to just be an arbitrary
10-digit string. You can’t tell what device or devices a given number
might ring, since it’s so easily changeable.

It might not help matters that someone can call our number, leave
us a voice mail, I get the email notification from our phone provider,
and I quickly call them back from work. I think some people/businesses
we deal with *still* think we have a cell phone.