Joe, "siebzig neun" is not used in any part of Germany for 79. "neunundsiebzig" is the normal (and only - apart from pronunciation variations) form - I do not like it, but there it is.

179 is (ein)hundertneunundsiebzig - which shows why I do not like it - the spoken "digits" are in a different order than the written digits, as the "siebzig" is at the end while the corresponding 7 is in the middle.

(similar to US dates which have the small unit days in the middle, the medium unit month at the beginning and the big unit years at the end)

MudGuard, native German speaker