In 1994, the North American Numbering Plan Administration began accepting applications for nationwide 555-numbers (outside the fictitious 555-01XX range).
[4] The fifty-cent information number was initially heavily advertised in area codes 604 (BCTel), 416 (Bell Canada), 506 (NBTel), 902 (Maritime T&T) and 709 (Newfoundland Tel), but was soon forgotten once Internet sites began providing free reverse lookup tools.
In television shows made or set in the mid-1970s or earlier, "KLondike 5" or "KLamath 5" reflects the old convention of using telephone exchange names.
Before "555" or "KLondike-5" gained broad usage, scriptwriters would sometimes invent fake exchanges starting with words like "QUincy" or "ZEbra", as the letters "Q" and "Z" were not used on the old dial phones.
In 1994, cartoonist Gary Larson's The Far Side included a panel with graffiti of a 555 number by which prank calls could be made to Satan.
In Australia, 555 was at the time a standard exchange, and the Australian owner of the number became the subject of harassment, launching an unsuccessful lawsuit against Larson and his syndicate for defamation.
Danny Madigan (played by Austin O'Brien) tries to convince Schwarzenegger's character that he is inside a movie by pointing out the 555 exchange provides at most 9,999 available telephone numbers, insufficient for all the phone users in Los Angeles.