# Area codes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [June 1, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729 "2012-06-01T02:14:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Daun\_Eierdam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@Daun\_Eierdam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daun_Eierdam)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/1 "2012-06-01T02:14:44Z")
Boy, did you blow it, Cecil. 210 has been the area code for San Antonio, Texas, for, like, ever. And as for only 0 and 1 being legal for the middle digit, my area code is 956. ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/2 "2012-06-01T02:26:15Z")
Things have changed a bit since 1988. He does need to update. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/3 "2012-06-01T02:26:21Z")
Did you, like, check the date of the article? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/4 "2012-06-01T02:29:45Z")
Boy, did you blow it, **Baun Eierdam.** You failed to give a link to the column in question, which [might be this one,](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/773/why-are-those-red-balloon-things-on-overhead-wires) and you failed to notice the date on the column (1988). You also apparently failed to read the entire column to the end, where Cecil added some updates. To sum up, the area codes were first set up in the 1940’s, and due to physical switches, required the middle digit to be either 1 or 0. This was changed years later when electronic switches took over, all-digit dialing replaced the letter plus number scheme, and “1” was a required prefix. The middle digit no longer had to be 0 or 1, expanding the total number available. > [@al27052](#): > > Things have changed a bit since 1988. He does need to update. Assuming we are on the same page/article, read to the end of it and weep. ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/5 "2012-06-01T03:18:00Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Boy, did you blow it, **Baun Eierdam.** You failed to give a link to the column in question, which [might be this one,](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/773/why-are-those-red-balloon-things-on-overhead-wires) and you failed to notice the date on the column (1988). You also apparently failed to read the entire column to the end, where Cecil added some updates. > > To sum up, the area codes were first set up in the 1940’s, and due to physical switches, required the middle digit to be either 1 or 0. This was changed years later when electronic switches took over, all-digit dialing replaced the letter plus number scheme, and “1” was a required prefix. The middle digit no longer had to be 0 or 1, expanding the total number available.Assuming we are on the same page/article, read to the end of it and weep. Umm, weep? He says that 210 hasn’t yet been assigned in that update. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/6 "2012-06-01T05:07:10Z")
> [@Daun\_Eierdam](#): > > Boy, did you blow it, Cecil. > 210 has been the area code for San Antonio, Texas, for, like, ever. that would be '92. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/7 "2012-06-01T12:19:07Z")
> [@al27052](#): > > He says that 210 hasn’t yet been assigned in that update. It’s a mini-update. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/8 "2012-06-01T13:41:35Z")
I’ll bring this one to Cecil’s attention to see if he’d like to do another update. ---
**Author:** ![Daun\_Eierdam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@Daun\_Eierdam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daun_Eierdam)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/9 "2012-06-01T20:28:21Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > that would be '92. San Antonio was area code 210 decades before 1988. Trust me. Or look it up. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/10 "2012-06-01T20:31:30Z")
> [@Daun\_Eierdam](#): > > San Antonio was area code 210 decades before 1988. Trust me. Or look it up. Just looked it up: [created in 1992 according to Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_code_210). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/11 "2012-06-02T00:59:21Z")
> [@Daun\_Eierdam](#): > > Boy, did you blow it, Cecil. > 210 has been the area code for San Antonio, Texas, for, like, ever. > [@johnpost](#): > > that would be '92. > [@Daun\_Eierdam](#): > > San Antonio was area code 210 decades before 1988. Trust me. Or look it up. 11/01/1992 to be exact. carved out of 512. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/12 "2012-06-02T02:24:24Z")
512 used to be the area code for the San Antonio / Austin area since forever. I was in college in 1992 when they broke the 512 area code into two groups: 512 became the predominant area code for the Austin area, and 210 was designated for the areas south, such as the San Antonio area. I don’t know why, but I guess this was in the age when fax machines and brick-sized cellphones and carphones became more common. Ma Bell must have recognized the need to break things down to create greater availability. My mother used to work for Ma Bell back in the day, but she doesn’t recall the reasoning behind the whole decision. She just answered the switchboard. And was quite grumpy about the Bell system becoming the Death Star company. Thank bob she was able to retire. She became a much nicer person after that. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/13 "2012-06-02T03:50:01Z")
A modest proposal: When we finally get close to exhausting even the still-largeish pool of available area codes, all existing numbers should be lengthened by a single digit, placed at the end. Say, for the sake of argument, that the number is zero. Thus, if your number is now 202-555-1234, your number would become 202-555-12340. _All_ existing numbers would have 0 added at the end. You wouldn’t have to immediately print new stationery, business cards, directories, etc., as everyone would know that if a fifth digit didn’t appear, it would be zero. The numbers 1-9 could then be used at the end of all newly-created numbers, greatly increasing the pool of available numbers. ---
**Author:** ![steviep24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@steviep24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steviep24)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/14 "2012-06-02T12:31:49Z")
The area code in my region is 585 (Rochester, NY) and was carved out of the 716 area code which now serves only the Buffalo/Niagara Falls region. This was done about 10 years ago. One of the main reasons so many new area codes had to be created was that during the 90’s when the internet started becoming popular everyone had a dial up connection which usually meant you had to have a dedicated phone line for internet. For each computer. Not to mention all the fax machines and of course the growing use of cell phones at that time. The demand for new phone lines was at its peak during this time. Everyone uses broadband internet now so just about all those dedicated phone lines are disconnected. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/15 "2012-06-02T12:48:42Z")
pagers used up many of the available remaining numbers back then. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/16 "2012-06-02T13:35:14Z")
> [@steviep24](#): > > One of the main reasons so many new area codes had to be created was that during the 90’s when the internet started becoming popular everyone had a dial up connection which usually meant you had to have a dedicated phone line for internet. For each computer. Not to mention all the fax machines and of course the growing use of cell phones at that time. The demand for new phone lines was at its peak during this time. > > Everyone uses broadband internet now so just about all those dedicated phone lines are disconnected. I can certainly see the need for numbers for some applications (fax, pagers, dialup, landline voice) is reduced, but I imagine the need is far greater for cellphones. It would be interesting to see these trends compared. In my case, in the last decade, I dropped one landline (no longer needed dialup), but added two for cellphones. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/17 "2012-06-02T13:37:57Z")
Is there a graph of number of phone lines in service versus time anywhere? ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/18 "2012-06-02T13:45:06Z")
Missed the edit window, but Googling “number of phone lines in service”, including the quotation marks, brings up many links describing declines in the number of phone lines, but not year-by-year figures that i could see. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/19 "2012-06-02T13:59:56Z")
also involved in the USA is competition. when multiple phone companies came into existence serving the same area they were assigned blocks of phone numbers for their use. the numbers are ‘used up’ even if a customer isn’t on each one. i believe that adjustments in how numbers are allocated have changed since competition initially started. ---
**Author:** ![livers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/958977/32.png) [@livers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/livers)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729/20 "2012-06-02T14:26:24Z")
Jeebers!!! 792 codes? over here we have 1000 possible codes 01??? to 09??? most of them premium rate:dubious: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/area-codes/623729.md?page=2)