Rare and prestigious prefixes
 

To the extent that such things exist, it might be a good idea to list the mobile prefixes in each country that are hard to get nowadays, or are in some way prestigious.

In some cases, these would be the earliest mobile prefixes in a country, such as 0172 in Germany, the original Mannesmann/Vodafone prefix, which is quite rare nowadays.

It might also be due to a shorter number, such as the older German prefixes with 7-digit phone numbers, where some later prefixes have 8 digits.

In other cases, these prefixes might be an interesting or lucky combination of numbers, like 888 in Poland.

And it might be tied to a location, such as 212 (Manhattan) in the U.S.

Alternatively, it could be a prefix belonging to a company that was only briefly on the market (such as 0150 for Quam in Germany).

(Although this thread is on the Europe board, if there are any prefixes like this elsewhere, please add them.)

All right, I'll start this off.

In Germany, GSM 900 service (the "D network") began in 1992. The original prefixes were:

0171 for "D1" (then Deutsche Bundespost Telekom, ie the government. Now T-Mobile, but still often known by this name)
0172 for "D2 privat" (now Vodafone, then a consortium led by Mannesmann.)

The "E network" (GSM 1800) providers came later:

0177 for E-Plus, from 1994
0179 for Viag Interkom (now O2), from 1998

New prefixes began to be assigned in 1999 to increase capacity (the first were 0174 for Vodafone and 0170 for T-Mobile). Of all these, 0171 and 0172 are now the least common (you are extremely unlikely to find a prepaid number with them), and 0172 is considerably rarer than 0171. Newer prefixes use eight-digit numbers; these use seven.

There are two old prefixes that are not available:

0161 for the old analog "C network" (1985-2000). These users were migrated to T-Mobile, but were given new numbers with a different prefix.
0150 for Quam, a short-lived MVNO (2001-2002) that was planned as a future UMTS operator. Customers were not given the option of keeping their number when it closed.

In Sweden the original series were:
(might be somewhat more prestigious, along with the other series starting with 070)

0705 Telia Mobile
0707 Comviq (Renamed to Tele2)
0708 Europolitan (Renamed to Vodafone and again to Telenor)

Additional series:

0700, 0701, 0702, 0703, 0704, 0706, 0709
0730, 0731, 0732, 0733, 0734, 0735, 0736, 0737, 0738, 0739
0760, 0761, 0762, 0763, 0764, 0765, 0766, 0767, 0768, 0769
0720, 0721, 0722

In North America, in addition to +1 212 for Manhattan, other prefixes that have become desirable are:

+1 310 - the area code for Hollywood, California and area. Surprisingly, the original Los Angeles code of +1 213 has not attained the cachet of +1 212.

+1 416 - Toronto city - is slowly becoming very desirable now that it is exhausted and all new numbers are in +1 647.

Polish mobile telecomunication has begun in 1992 with analog Centertel. Its prefix used to be 090 until "unification" of Polish telephone numbersto 9 digits. Today the prefix is 690. It is almost impossible to meet with the number beggining with 690.

GSM net came to Poland in 1996 with operators Plus GSM and Era. The first one got prefix 601, the second one 602. In 1998 Centertel started its GSM brand called Idea with prefix 501. These prefixes are believed to be the most prestigeous and usually assosiated with buisness users. They're pretty rare, yet still avalible on market - I have got brand new 601 prefix number on September last year for in my job.

And actually "mir doch scheiẞegal" what number I got ;) I care of how much I pay ;)

btw...
In Poland 0700 is a synonym to a sex-telephone, as it's "premium number" with a very high minute-cost. It used to be popular in 1990's, yet still some remember tv ads with naked women singing "Zero - Seven - Zero - Zero..." :D

prestigious?
 

This idea of 'prestigious' prefixes or area codes is kind of laughable to me. Rare I can understand. There are people on eBay trying to sell people SIM cards with prestigious area codes in the US. His sales pitch is to make people especially desirous of these special area codes in order to get absurdly high prices. Anyone here who can activate a AT&T or T-Mobile SIM card; or H20 [and its ilk] for that matter could probably get one most of the time. Some area codes are not available or hard to get, but to pay a premium for one is beyond my comprehension. However, I have had some luck choosing Tru numbers that at least had a pattern or repetition of numbers to make easier remembering.


Actually, Hollywood is in 323---a definitely non-prestigious area code. [The doughnut around the 213 doughnut hole.]
Area code 323
Area codes 310 and 424
These Wikipedia pages on area codes are actually well done and quite useful.

Oops, you're right. I meant Beverly Hills.

I have a Simple Calling phone with a 323 number. I don't mind it, but it's not a special number to be sure.

Yes, it's a little different in North America, where there are no specific mobile prefixes, so the area codes with the most cachet are the same as they've ever been, particularly 212 - though the advent of mobile telephony has meant that anyone (like, say, me) can have a Manhattan phone number without having to live there. The fact that mobile phones cost the same to call as other numbers in North America also makes a "local" number desirable, and for Canada, a Toronto number is a local call to a large share of the country's population, making 416 - as PhotoJim said - the one to get.

However, elsewhere, the original GSM mobile prefixes were often a) the most recognizable because they were the first; b) relatively quickly exhausted due to failure to anticipate demand; and c) sometimes "prestigious" for these reasons. (And these are the ones that are sold for a premium on eBay.)

However, there were some other situations, such as the UK, where all the prefixes were changed after GSM was well established. Can anyone explain that one?

I also have a SIMple Calling 323 number and a 213 also. Which works well for me as I am right next door to them. I haven't figured out a way to take advantage of the free voice mail on them though.