# Area Code Boundries **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 10, 2000, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-code-boundries/36336 "2000-10-10T00:33:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2000, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-code-boundries/36336/21 "2000-10-12T02:48:39Z")
Interesting replies but does anyone have any idea why the 619 area code starts at the bottom and curves up all the way on the backside till Reno (or at least did) Why wouldn’t it make more sense to make it more compact. Also the original plan was to give beepers,cells etc their own area codes, but the FCC ruled that as unfair. NYC was grandfathered to keep its beeper area code. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2000, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-code-boundries/36336/22 "2000-10-12T03:03:06Z")
Actually 619 is compact. I think you’re referring to 760. It looks the way it is because when the PUC started dividing up the old 714 area code, the more populous sections were cut out first. mostly in Orange County. What’s left are the odds and ends, as it were, of the population of California. It’s the Mojave Desert and the Southern Sierra Nevada. While it’s far from uninhabited, there’s still a lot of wideopen space there. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2000, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-code-boundries/36336/23 "2000-10-13T02:36:23Z")
I guess I wasn’t asking this right. THE OLD 619 area code ran from San Diego all the way up to near Reno. Why was it like this? Why not just extend one of the other area codes across to the Nevada border and make a compact area code. Most of the other states with more than 2 area codes are more compact ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2000, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-code-boundries/36336/24 "2000-10-13T02:39:27Z")
Dividing the area codes by drawing relatively straight east-west lines just wouldn’t make sense in that part of California. The Sierra Nevada creates a natural dividing line for any area code. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-code-boundries/36336.md?page=1)