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Area Codes: Long Distance Confusion |
Tidbit Archive
| Anyone who has placed a long distance telephone call in the United
States during the past several years is undoubtedly aware of the bewildering
proliferation of area codes that has taken place. Try calling someone
in almost any major metropolitan area (and many minor ones) to whom you
haven't spoken in some time and chances are that his or her area code has
changed. Whereas everyone in New York City (including Brooklyn, Queens,
The Bronx, and Staten Island as well as Manhattan) used to be in the 212
area code, now they might be in 917, 646, 718, or 347. In Los Angeles,
the old 213 area code is now confined to downtown LA, and is surrounded
by 323, 818, 626, 562, 310, 714, 909, 805, and 661.
Several things are driving the demand for new area codes. There is, of course, the enormous growth in demand for telephone numbers driven by cell phones, faxes, pagers, and Internet connections. But, more important, according to the Federal Communications Commission, are the opening of local telephone service to competition and the fact that telephone numbers are assigned to service providers in blocks of 10,000 numbers. Thus, for example, a small cellular provider which may have only 3,000 customers is still assigned 10,000 numbers. Once all of the blocks in a local area are spoken for, a new area code is needed, even though there may be plenty of numbers available. In 1991 the U.S. had 119 area codes in service; by the end of the decade that number had nearly doubled. Unless ways are found to make number assignment more efficient, the North American Numbering Plan, through which area codes are assigned, is forecast to run out of new area codes within 10 to 15 years. One way to solve this situation would be to add an extra digit to U.S. telephone numbers, which would require an expensive conversion of existing technology and which the telecommunications industry would like to avoid. The FCC, therefore, is studying a variety of alternatives that would preserve the life of the existing ten-digit numbering system. |
Links:FAQ about area codes from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Official site of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). Includes maps, future area codes not yet in service, press releases, newsletters, and more.
North American Numbering Council -- an advisory body formed by the FCC to provide advice to the NANP.
List of all changes to area codes under the North American Numbering Plan since January 1, 1995, in numerical, alphabetical, and date order, from Teltronics, Inc.
Areacode-Info.com. An information-packed site that covers virtually all aspects of the area code business.
Joyce Cohen, "Using the Web to Help Hapless Callers Cope," The New York Times (January 11, 2001). Interesting recent article on the area code mess and other aspects of the long-distance telephone industry.
Linc Madison's site devoted to telephone area codes and splits.
Area code split details -- including lists of which exchanges within the relevant area codes are assigned to the new code. Useful for updating databases, contact lists, etc.
Area Decoder -- enter a country code and area code and this page provides the location to which it applies; enter a city, state, or country and the page gives you the country and area codes. A very handy service.
Selected telephone area codes outside the U.S.:
Africa
China
Philippines
Japan
ArgentinaTelephone Directories on the Web, includes lists of area codes in nearly all countries and other interesting material.
Area Codes in Alphabetics Bible Code. Correlations between telephone area code numbers and word and page numbers in the Bible lexicons and English dictionaries. Sample: "763 is the phone prefix in Highland, Utah. Word 763 in the Hebrew Old Testament lexicon means highland." Pretty weird stuff.
E-mail your tidbit suggestions to ateich@aaas.org.Search for more information about telephone area codes on:
