Zeros in phone numbers prestigious
| • | Cell-phone companies roll out new fees |
By Shelly Branch
Wall Street Journal
Paolo Zampolli, the dapper owner of a New York City modeling agency, likes to surround himself with beautiful people and enviable things. There's his black stretch Chevrolet Suburban limousine in which he makes the nightclub rounds with his long-legged "girls." Three flat-screen computers flicker in his SoHo office. A Gramercy Park apartment shows off a Picasso drawing and a Mir— painting.
But among the 32-year-old Zampolli's most prized possessions is a growing collection of zeros, and not the kind having to do with any bank account. Like many people caught up in the status symbols of the digital age, Mr. Zampolli is obsessed with his cell-phone numbers. Each of them — 12 altogether — ends neatly in two or three zeros. "I only want good numbers," says Zampolli, who hails from Milan. "What can I say? I'm addicted."
Telephone numbers ending in "00" or "000" used to be the province of businesses, or of the rich and famous. Companies and individuals alike would compete for them because of the obviously limited supply in any given area code. Many paid dearly to acquire and keep them.
But cell phones, and the more than 100 million new numbers created for them, have leveled the playing field. Relying on luck, persistence and guile, plenty of cell-phone aficionados are enjoying new clout.
Most companies charge a nominal fee of about $25 to get a "00" number if they have one available.
"People used to want their names spelled out," says Kevin Smith, an independent agent in Washington, D.C. "Now the most requested and hardest thing to get is a triple- or a double-zero number." Once a carrier releases a new exchange, Smith says he "jumps on it" to get as many round numbers as possible. He's been known to hook up his nagging buddies first.
Kevin Witt, an actor and personal trainer in Washington, D.C., is one such buddy beneficiary. He says that his "00" number, which appears on his photo-emblazoned business cards, looks professional and impresses women. "When I tell them my number and they punch it into their cell phone that's when I get, 'Wow!' " he says. "It's definitely an advantage."
