Cell phones evolved differently.

The UK (and Australia) set up a separate prefix for mobile calls. They were more expensive to call. You also knew if you could text someone because it was a mobile number.

The US had analog cell phones for longer and they were introduced to be in the same area code so counted as a "local" call (vs "long distance") for anyone calling that number. The receiver also paid to receive that call, originally.

I honestly don't know how landlines are charged now. It's been probably 20 years since I've had one. Some cheaper cell phone plans might have limited minutes but it's way more common to have unlimited talk and text to any US domestic number (landline or cell).

Oh we had 1800 that were "toll free" meaning they didn't incur long distance charges, originally but this doesn't really apply now. Also, they ran out of 1800 numbers so pretty much anything 18xx is a toll free number.

Note the 1 in front too. That's also a US thing. It technically indicates you're making a "long distance" call. More specifically, you're specifying an area code.e Modern smartphones don't generally require you to type in the 1. Old phones did.

So if you were on a 718 number and call someone else on a 718 number, you could just use the 7 digits of their number. This isn't something people really do anymore. But if you had to call a 646 number you'd put in 1-646-123-4567 back in the day.

By the way, the cell phone numbers being in a given area code explains this joke [1].

Oh the UK/Australia system had its issues too, like it mattered if you were calling from Vodafone to another Vodafone user or if it was an Orange or BT cutstomer because you were charged differently and it could count against different free minutes pools. And you really had no way of knowing.

I don't believe the US had that kind of issue or, they did, it was so long ago that nobody remembers.

[1]: https://xkcd.com/1129/

> I don't believe the US had that kind of issue or, they did, it was so long ago that nobody remembers.

There is still a similar issue of not knowing whether an area code is for another country in the North American Numbering Plan. It’s fairly common for me to see an unfamiliar number and be unsure whether it’s from the US or Canada, for instance, without additional context.

Thank you for this - these are the kind of facts that really scratch a mental itch for me.