My mom died in 2014. My dad canceled her cell service and put her phone in a box. It's still there today.

Fast forward to 2017. I still didn't have the heart to take her number and contact picture out of my phone. My wife and I were waiting outside of our son's school while he was at his first Jr High dance. My mom and son were big buddies…. My phone rings. It pops up my mom's picture and from her number. I look at my wife and think there's no way. I answer. It was a young lady looking for someone I didn't know, so we hung up. I thought about it for a minute and had to call back and ask a few questions. She answered and told me she was just assigned that number with her new phone. I explained who I was. She almost cried. I knew my dad still had my mom's old phone so this wasn't an instance of someone buying it and calling me.

So, I ask you math guys… In Houston, with 6,000,000 people in the area, WHAT are the odds of someone with my mom's old number misdialing ME her SON?

Let that soak in for a minute…

Thanks!

I mean, very low odds. I'd also call her old carrier and be sure that the number has been reused.

Wow, astronomical odds.

It has been. My mom was with ATT. The caller said she just got a new phone and that number from Sprint.

Interesting question so I did a bit of googling. Doubt this guy's data is necessarily correct, but he seems to think 1 in 1,169,590,643 chance on any given day of getting a call from an old number of some person you know (assuming you know around 100 people).

Now, whittle that down to it being a significant contact (mom, dad, child, etc...) and the odds get even more astronomical, but we're also talking not on any given day anymore but instead one time in roughly 1460 days (4 years).

Someone else would need to take the math from here, my head hurts.


https://www.reddit.com/r/dothemath/comments/634dbq/what_are_the_chances_of_me_receiving_a_random/

I'd say it works out to ... <checks notes> ... 1 in 6,000,000

Not exactly the same but I've had a very similar experience. I worked with a guy for over a decade. He a bit of a drinking problem and unfortunately, after losing his job and wife decided to end things. Just a super awful deal around.

Fast forward 5 years later, and I drop my son off a friend's house for a birthday party. Couple hours later I get a call that shows up as my buddy, long since deceased. It was my son on the other end, calling from his friend's cell because his phone had died.

Sounds a bit silly now but it was pretty awful seeing his name calling my phone.