I'm definitely calling FOUL on this one.
I got tired of the Short-N-Numbers scam... so I did what they did.. wrote my own program to scour the database and automatically register any 3-digit N-Number. Guess what? ALL of my reservations were rejected, every time.
Interestingly, when I look up a free number, the database says "Available". After I register it, it says "Reserved". So, had it been reserved prior to me, it would have said so.
To me, it sounds like someone is "deciding" who gets the registration.