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From: patrickh@rice.edu (Patrick L Humphrey)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Why Were Area Codes Scattered Around in Assignment?
Message-ID: <11624@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 1 Sep 90 07:24:48 GMT
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Reply-To: patrickh@uncle-bens.rice.edu (Patrick L Humphrey)
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 614, Message 4 of 9


In article <11565@accuvax.nwu.edu> cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) writes:
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).

It never was arranged that way.  Kentucky has always been split
between 502 and 606, Texas has always had 806 (with five N1Xs at the
time), Oklahoma has always been 405 and 918, and Nebraska has always
had 402 and 308.  (Washington has always been split between 206 and
509, as well.)  "Always" in this instance means at the time of the NPA
assignments being made in 1954.  The NPA assignments were made
seemingly on consideration of how long the NPA would take to be
dialed, since that was of concern in an age where pulse dialing was
the only kind available.  The reasoning was that the areas with large
numbers of calls should get the NPA numbers that could be dialed the
quickest -- hence New York City got 212, Los Angeles 213, Chicago 312,
Detroit 313, and so forth. 


Patrick L. Humphrey  (patrickh@rice.edu)
Networking & Computing Systems          
Rice University, Houston, Texas         
My opinion is not that of Rice, except this one: BEAT THE *&$#! OUTTA TEXAS!