Area Code For Local Calls

In Greater Phoenix, Az there are 3 area codes for local calls 602, 480, 623 . You have to dial the 10 digit number for a local call because many of the 7 digit numbers are duplicated and available in each local area code. The original 602 area code ran out of available numbers, so they added 2 more local area codes. With all the cell phones nowadays, phone numbers are getting used up rapidly.

In days of yore, they would add a new area code when things were nearing capacity but still try to maintain a geographical distinction between them. In other words, you could tell which city someone lived in solely by their area code. For instance, where I used to live in Northern Virginia it was all 703; the rest of the state was 804. Some smaller states had one area code for the entire state. (This may still be true, for all I know.) If they did run short of numbers they would shrink a couple of regions geographically and plant a new region and code in the gap created, meaning that someone who had had the same number for 40 years might suddenly have a new area code. Needless to say, people who got shifted felt shafted.

This got to be an even bigger problem when Fax machines were all the rage 25+ years ago and started sucking up more of the available free numbers. Then along came cell phones. So many people were getting forced into new, different area codes that it got to be a real headache, both for the people involved and the phone company. Then some bright soul got the idea of interleaving area codes, leaving geography out of it altogether. The good news was that once you had a phone number it was unlikely to ever change again. The bad news was that you might have to dial all ten digits to call your next-door-neighbor, even if he was in the same area code. If your neighbor was in a different area code then you obviously would have to do that anyway. For a while back in Virginia the deal was that you only needed to dial seven digits for same-area-code calls. When they moved everybody to ten-digit dialing, all the time no matter what, lots of people complained about having to "dial long-distance" to call across the street. They also added the "1" prefix (1-xxx-xxx-xxxx) so the automatic switchboards new right off the bat that it was going to be an actual long-distance call, and not just a standard (local) ten-digit local call.

We have had to dial the area code for some years here. They have split our area and we all got a new area code many years ago too. With all the cell phones and such, they are running out or numbers. Have they recently added a new area code near you? I see where Santa Clara country (Silicon Valley), is adding a new area code. This is from the article, this is the evolution of the Bay Area's area codes:

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A Guy