Mark Brader wrote:

Also, the 9 hole could be easily found in the dark -- an advantage of
your 999 over our 911.

That was the logic behind it being selected in the first place. Sadly I'm
not convinced that the new numbers being bandied around take sufficient
account of the visually impaired or people trying to find numbers in the
dark, in smoke, or when mobile/cell handset backlights don't work. A single
repeated digit is far easier to dial that a number that requires movement
around the keypad.