Area Code 710

[Markxxx]

What is the deal with this? The sites I go to list it as for governmental emergencies only…What kind?

Anyone have the SD?

[cmburns]

I’m a little shaky on the details, but as I understand it 710 is an area code used by approved government agencies, regardless of their geographic location, as part of the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS). The feds have contracts with the major long distance carriers to process 710 calls. In an emergency, an approved user could, for instance, use a pay phone to call across the country without having to dump a bunch of coins in. The 710 tells the phone service computers that the call will be paid for by the government, and that the call has a high priority. Basically set up so the government has phone/fax usage in an emergency when lines are scarce.

A friend once misdialed my 760 area code as 710, and spoke to a somewhat confused government employee at the other end. After looking up the number she called, I told her to expect the NSA, FBI, and IRS to come knocking on her door at any time.

[samclem]

I. GETS Concept. The GETS concept developed as a result of increased recognition by the White House of the vulnerabilities of the Public Switched Network (PSN) and the practical realization that National Security/Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) users required priority service over normal users of the PSN during a national emergency or crisis. Recent events of the past few years have shown that fires, floods, power failures, fiber cable cuts, and software problems can cripple the telephone services of entire regions. Congestion in the PSN caused by excessive demand can prevent circuits from being accessed, e.g. Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes in California and Hurricane Andrew in Florida. Due to such conditions, carriers may be forced to block traffic to a network because of increased congestion, which can result from increased usage, a loss of system robustness, or both. GETS addresses these vulnerabilities by making maximum use of all available telephone resources, should outages occur during an emergency or crises.

from GETS

[evilhanz]

The North American Numbering Plan is responsible for such things. Some more information from an NANPA memo, PL-NANP-172:

Lockheed Martin IMS-NANPA publishes this PL as an update of Bellcore Letter IL ­ 94/01-002 dated
January 3, 1994. The 710 NPA was assigned in 1983 to the U.S. Government for emergency services. The
Office of the Manager, National Communications System (OMNCS) of the United States has notified the
industry that the non-geographic 710 area code should allow unrestricted and ubiquitous access in all
international and domestic carriers for authorized users of the 710 NPA. The 710 NPA will be treated as
non-geographic with per-call compensation provided by the National Communications System (NCS).

…

In order to provide universal 710 accessibility in the appropriate service mode, owners and managers
responsible for user-to-network access need to ensure their switching systems are programmed to
accommodate the 710 NPA. Accordingly, the 710 area code will be unblocked to network access,
including equal access. 710 access will be provided from any cellular/PCS phone, whether or not the
phone is subscribed in the cellular/PCS area where the call is placed.

[mongrel_8]

So does this mean that in Air Force One, Harrison Ford could have called a 710 number instead of calling the White House front desk?

[Markxxx]

I get the use but what exactly is the “EMERGENCY” use they mean.

[samclem]

:ahem:

Recent events of the past few years have shown that fires, floods, power failures, fiber cable cuts, and software problems can cripple the telephone services of entire regions. Congestion in the PSN caused by excessive demand can prevent circuits from being accessed, e.g. Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes in California and Hurricane Andrew in Florida. Due to such conditions, carriers may be forced to block traffic to a network because of increased congestion, which can result from increased usage, a loss of system robustness, or both