It wasn't that many years ago in north eastern Nova Scotia at my grandparents place, you had no dial on the phone. There was a crank and a button on the side. You'd start cranking, then you could do one of 2 things. If you knew the "ring" code for whoever you were calling, while cranking you would push the button on the side long & short presses. Everyone's phone in the village would ring, but only the person with the right "ring" would pick it up.

Most times you'd use the 2nd method. Hold button, crank 3 times, then when the operator came on, ask for "Three-ring four please" and the operator would do the three long & four short for you. Whoever recognized their own ring in the village would pick up. (Along with the 2 or three "Hello?" From the people who misheard the ring and answered.)

There were only a couple hundred people in the village but almost every time you wanted to phone someone, you'd pick up the receiver and there would already be people talking. You had to wait until nobody else in town was using the party line before you could make a call, and it was just assumed that everyone in town was listening.

My sisters and I spent hours pretending to be spies, quietly listening in every time the phone rang, whether it was OUR "3-ring-2" number or not.

This was 1970...

Our phone number in Germany was "07221 4852713" - Dialling a 3-digit area code isn't that big a deal.