Area Code Trivia

Quote: Tomspur

Just for a bit of context, it is quite amazing how New York residents either present or past place tremendous stock in the area codes they were prescribed. My wife landed in NYC on or about the year 2000 and she got a "646" code. When i met her she lamented that she was not lucky enough to get a coveted "212" code. Now that we live in Vegas, have done so for 4 years, do you think my wife is willing to give up her "646" area code number? Not a chance in hell. She will even fight through phone stalkers, countless wrong numbers ect. than get a change of number. In fact, once she told me she would just as soon divorce me as change her number........that kinda put the loyalties of a New Yorker into persepctive for me :)

I still have my 585 from Rochester almost 10 years and 2 moves and states later. At first people thought it was weird, but now they just ask where it was from. Sometimes they want to know why I keep it, so I explain that I have had it since 1998 and all kinds of old friends have it. Who also has it? Numerous job recruiters where I have posted my number over the years. No reason to change it.

A bit of trivia on why the old codes got eaten up so fast in the 1990s. When all the small pager and later cell phone sellers popped up they were given an entire 9999 numbers at once, even if they only used a few hundred. So say the beloved 212 had many unassigned numbers left when Elaine had to get a new number because of Kramer's fax menu fiasco. Later these outfits were less profitable and not on every corner, and the phone companies started just giving 999 numbers to them at a time.

Quote: AZDuffman

... So say the beloved 212 had many unassigned numbers left when Elaine had to get a new number because of Kramer's fax menu fiasco. Later these outfits were less profitable and not on every corner, and the phone companies started just giving 999 numbers to them at a time.

In June 2012, there were
102 million end-user switched access lines in service, +
39 million interconnected VoIP subscriptions, =
141 million wireline retail local telephone service connections

Of the 141 million 81 million residential connections and 60 million were business connections.

+303 million mobile subscriptions in the United States, or
444 million retail local telephone service connections in total.


So the original 77 US Area Codes in the year 1947 could handle over 600 million unique numbers if completely filled in. So I imagine there are many 212 area code numbers available for sale. If the Fcc is successfully sued, it would be a huge profit center.

From 1959 until breakup in phone system in 1 January 1984 there were only 11 Area Codes Created
1 Panhandle, MI
1 Jacksonville, FL
1 Richmond VA
1 San Diego, CA
1 Galveston, TX
2 Canada
1 Federal Government
3 700 & 800 & 900

So the breakup of phone company and creating new municipal area codes in NYC and LA seemed the whole system was collapsing.

Quote: AZDuffman

I still have my 585 from Rochester almost 10 years and 2 moves and states later. At first people thought it was weird, but now they just ask where it was from. Sometimes they want to know why I keep it, so I explain that I have had it since 1998 and all kinds of old friends have it. Who also has it? Numerous job recruiters where I have posted my number over the years. No reason to change it.

A bit of trivia on why the old codes got eaten up so fast in the 1990s. When all the small pager and later cell phone sellers popped up they were given an entire 9999 numbers at once, even if they only used a few hundred. So say the beloved 212 had many unassigned numbers left when Elaine had to get a new number because of Kramer's fax menu fiasco. Later these outfits were less profitable and not on every corner, and the phone companies started just giving 999 numbers to them at a time.

We had our 425 number (Vonage - Washington State) in use back in Canada up until about 3 years ago. We just took our vonage phone to our different corporate apartments so we carried the same number. We got rid of Vonage when we got a very cheap home phone service.

The tables below show the original area codes in 1947.
The blocks with asterisks were filled in by 1959.
The blocks with INT were filled in the interim years from 1960 until the breakup.
The ones labelled BRK were used after the breakup of Bell Telephone.

200	201	202	203	204	205	206	207	208	***
300	301	302	303	304	305	306	307	***	***
400	401	402	403	404	405	406	BRK	***	INT
500	501	502	503	504	505	***	***	BRK	***
600	601	602	603	604	605	***	***	***	***
700	701	702	703	704	***	BRK	***	BRK	INT
800	801	802	803	INT	***	***	INT	***	***
900	901	902	BRK	INT	BRK	INT	***	BRK	BRK

210	211	212	213	214	215	216	217	218	***
310	311	312	313	314	315	316	317	***	319
410	411	412	413	414	415	416	***	418	419
510	511	512	513	514	515		517	518	***
610	611	612	613	614	***	616	617	618	INT
710	711	712	713	***	715	716	717	BRK	BRK
810	811	812	***	814	815	816	***	BRK	***
910	911	***	913	914	915	916	BRK	***	***

210	211	NYC	LAX	DFW	PHL	CLE	217	218	***
310	311	CHI	DET	STL	315	316	317	***	319
410	411	PIT	413	414	SFO	416	***	418	419
510	511	SAT	CIN	514	515		517	518	***
610	611	612	613	COL	***	616	617	618	INT
710	711	712	HOU	***	715	716	717	BRK	BRK
810	811	812	***	814	815	816	***	BRK	***
910	911	***	913	914	915	916	BRK	***	***

The X10 area codes were not originally used, and all but one was initiated after the breakup of Bell Telephone in 1984. Obviously the X11 was reserved for codes (like 911 and 411). When Bell Telephone broke up there were only 12 unused area codes (but extending to X10 provided a few more for a few years).