Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!swbatl!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: smk@attunix.att.com (S M Krieger) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: NPA Splits Before 1965 Message-ID: Date: 5 Oct 89 14:09:10 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: Summit NJ Lines: 82 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 433, message 2 of 5 > Here's a list of the affected states which obviously had only one code (with > a zero in it, still serving the major city) at one time: > New Jersey 201 (609) > Additional ammunition: telephone directories in New Jersey have listings in > them of every prefix in the state, grouped by area code. (Wish every state > did this.) In each list, a mark referring you to a footnote appears next to > any central office code which is duplicated in both 201 and 609 areas. Why? > Allow me to speculate: Because at one time New Jersey must have had only one > area code with no prefix duplications. 609 was added early on with the > knowledge that the state would outgrow 201 before DDD was widely implemented. > Even though the state now had two area codes, there were still no prefix > duplications and it was likely that 7-digit dialing applied statewide. (To my > knowledge, New Jersey *never* had 1 + 7 digit dialing for intra-NPA toll > calls.) Eventually, as the concept of area codes caught on, New Jerseyites > were required to dial 10 digits to reach people in the 'other' area of their > state. (This does not apply universally in NJ, however. There is some > code conservation with 7 digit calls across the border allowed.) Here is what I remember, from memory, about 201 and 609. Direct Distance Dialing came to Atlantic City in 1961. Prior to DDD, there were five central offices serving Atlantic City (ATlantic City 2,3,4,5, and 6) and one serving Brigantine (COlonial 6). All calls within these areas were made by dialing just the 5 digit number. LD calls were placed by the operator. (Two things- obviously at the time, there could be no duplication of numbers between the AT 6 and CO 6 exchanges; also at the time, the area served by AT 2 and AT 3; specifically, that portion of Atlantic City south of where U.S. 40 ends, as well as the cities of Ventnor, Margate, and Longport, was still developing; the only AT 3 numbers assigned were those of the form AT3-1nnn). When DDD came in 1961, and 7 digit dialing implemented, the AT 2 and 3 exchanges became 822 and 823, the AT 4, 5, and 6 exchanges became 344, 345, and 348, and the CO 6 exchange became 266. Now, several other things- 1. Although the area code instructions showed a national map, included the 201/609 split, we were told that no area code was required for any call within NJ; I guess this meant that 609 was being opened for future expansion. I think it was around 1963 that NJ Bell told us we would need to use the 201 area code for northern NJ. (And confirming the speculation in the original article, the stories about the pending 201/908 split mentioned that originally 201 was the area code for the entire state.) 2. I guess the SXS office was retained for local calls, so any toll call out of Atlantic City required us to dial a 1 before the number. Thus all calls to another area code had to be preceeded by a "1", and all calls within 609 not to Atlantic City, Brigantine, Pleasantville, Somers Point, or Ocean City had to be preceeded by a "1" (and then the 7 digits). This 1+ requirement for all toll calls was deleted a number of years later; I don't know exactly when because my family moved out of the Atlantic City area in 1964. 3. I don't know if the billing system was in place at the time DDD came, because whenever we made a toll call, an operator would first come on and ask what number we were calling from. I think this lasted about a year. I also remember as southern NJ was being cut over to DDD, there was a mention that dialing instructions for calls from certain border areas to Philadelphia had changed. I think from places like Camden, to call Philadelphia, all one had to do was dial 11 and then the Philadelphia 7 digit number. When DDD, they had to dial 1 (215) (or maybe just (215)) like the rest of us. The listing of central office and locality in NJ phone books is pretty old. I don't know though why they flag duplicate central office codes; it's not like we don't need an area code if the code is unique to 201 or 609. Stan Krieger Summit, NJ ...!att!attunix!smk