I think you’re mistaking T9 dialing with T9 texting. T9 Dialing uses the letter on the keys to search through your contacts to make find a number. 236 has the letters BEN. It would also return someone named Admond or a contact with 236 in the number. Before, iPhones would only return the result of a number with 236 in it, and you would have to search through you address book if you didn’t know their number