Where did the letters on the dial pad of telephones come from?

Question

Who decided to substitute letters for numbers in businesses?

Answer 1

The letters on the dial pad of telephones came from the alphabet!

Answer 2

Before World War II, many localities used three letters and four numbers, and in much of California during this period, phone numbers had only six digits — two letters followed by four numbers. The prefix was a name, and the first two or three letters (usually shown in capitals) of the name were dialed. Later, the third letter (where previously used) was replaced by a number; this generally happened after World War II, although New York City did this in 1930. Thus, the famous Glenn Miller tune "PEnnsylvania 6-5000" refers to a telephone number 736-5000, the number of the Hotel Pennsylvania, which still bears the same number today. Similarly, the classic Elizabeth Taylor film "BUtterfield 8" refers to the section of New York City where the film is set, where the telephone prefixes include 288 (on the East Side of Manhattan between roughly 64th and 86th Streets). This is why, in some works of fiction, phone numbers will begin with "KLondike 5" or "KLamath 5", which translates to 555, a mostly unused and reserved exchange. This practice continues in film and television to this day, even though the prefix system has long been unused.

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Ameri...

Answer 3

when phones first came all number were started with letters and then numbers.

a certain area had the same letters so all you had to remember was the area and then the numbers.

when they started getting more phones they went to all numbers.  now business try to get the letters in to make it easier to remember their number.

ie 1-800-petmeds you know you want petmeds so you just remember the 1-800.