Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Why Were Area Codes Scattered Around in Assignment? Message-ID: <11565@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 31 Aug 90 14:10:49 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 28 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 610, Message 6 of 11 Here are some comments which I wrote with the international readers in mind. They apply to country code 1. The present area codes are of the form N0X and N1X (where N is any single digit except 0 or 1, and X is any single digit INCLUDING 0 and 1), and were (according to my readings of Telecom) originally laid out so that N0X was assigned to states/provinces having only one area code, and N1X was assigned to states/provinces having more than one area code. (The area codes were given out both to states of the U.S. and to provinces of Canada.) A lot of area codes have been created since then, but you still find that: If a state/province has one area code, it's N0X (this is NO LONGER true the other way around); N1X is in a state/province having more than one area code (but N0X now occurs in some states having more than one area code). Area codes do not cross state or province lines (but this rule is relaxed w/r to Canada's Northwest Territories and w/r to Prince Edward Island in the Canadian Maritime area). Sometime around 1995, area codes of N0X/N1X form are projected to run out, and area codes will have to generalize to NXX. This will prompt many changes in dialing instructions, but some areas (such as Maryland) already have dialing instructions which could accommodate NXX area codes.