Are there any current one area code states that “most likely” will never need to have another area code added?
I looked in Google but came up with only an offical in Maine indicating that they most likely will never need one.
Montana?
North Dakota
Haj
Wyoming, unless antelope start carrying cell phones.
With about one million people, RI only has one area code. How many people do you need to add another?
10 or 20, with the proper amount of phone numbering eating accessories…
Any cites? I want to keep this from going to IMHO.
As I said so far I only have a cite for Maine.
I don’t think it would people necessarily but business that would determain a need.
In Chicago people have a number for Home, Internet, Cell, Beepers, Fax… (now combinable for some) but in say North Dakota you’d be more farm oriented so you may only have 2 numbers instead of 4 or 5
At 1.2 million Hawaii (808) is likely to never have any more then 1.5 million.
I’d wager Alaska (907) also stands a good chance as long as global warming doesn’t strike with a vengence.
Could you show us the link?
Also I think asking for cites may be futile since I doubt any state official would want to make predictions on subjects that have no benefit and could very easily be wrong.
I think that “most likely” dooms this to be an IMHO thread, but that isn’t so bad is it?
This ought to keep it out of IMHO.
NANPA, the North American Numbering Plan Administration, are the folks who decide who needs new area codes and when.
On their site you can find such nifty things as Area Code Maps, Area Codes in danger of running out of numbers, and Status of current efforts (new codes assigned.) You can also see who owns blocks of 900, 800, or other such numbers. Very cool over all.
As an example, from the “Status of current efforts” you can get a PDF or Excel document, from which I learned that my area code (408) is in danger of running out of numbers, and is currently expected to do so in first quarter 2004. The ‘relief efforts’ have been suspended, it appears because the California PUC doesn’t want to allow an ‘overlay’, they prefer ‘splits’ (an overlay is where new numbers in a neighborhood will have a different area code, a split is where everyone in the neighborhood changes to the new area code.) In case they do activate the new area code, it will be 669.
Neat, huh?
Be warned, it appears to be designed for telco folks, so the information is a bit esoteric. For example, they call area codes “NPAs”.
Now, back to the OP:
The following states appear to have exactly one area code:
[ul][li]907 - Alaska[]302 - Delaware[]202 - D.C. (OK, not a state. Sue me.)[]808 - Hawaii[]208 - Idaho[]207 - Maine[]204 - Manitoba (again, call my lawyer.)[]406 - Montana[]506 - New Brunswick (yada yada)[]603 - New Hampshire[]505 - New Mexico[]709 - Newfoundland (…)[]701 - North Dakota[]902 - Nova Scotia (OK, last one. You have to guess which ones aren’t states.)[]401 - Rhode Island[]306 - Saskatchewan[]605 - South Dakota[]802 - Vermont[]304 - West Virginia[]307 - Wyoming[]867 - Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.[/li][/ul]
Of these, the following have “relief efforts” I could easily find:
[ul][li]208 - Idaho. Projected exhaustion third quarter 2003, no new code assigned yet.[]207 - Maine (sorry to bust your cite, Markxxx.) Projected exhaustion third quarter 2005, no code assigned yet, but “Consensus reached to recommend an overlay to the Maine PUC.”[]603 - New Hampshire. Projected exhaustion first quarter 2004, no code yet but “industry recommended an overlay”.[]505 - New Mexico. Projected exhaustion second quarter 2003, plan to split to 575.[]304 - West Virginia. Projected exhaustion third quarter 2003, no code yet but “Industry reached consensus to recommend to the commission two relief alternatives, a split and[/li]an overlay.”
[/ul]
This leaves many states likely to never need another area code, including such sure bets as Nunavut/Yukon/NW Territories and Wyoming. While the population may eventually swell to the point of outstripping the area code’s capacity, by that time it is likely there will be some other solution besides area codes, for example some kind of globally unique number per user - something along the lines of IPv6 or somesuch. Too far in the future to say, though.
Surprises (to me, anyway:) Puerto Rico has two area codes.
Keep in mind also that many countries have exactly one area code, likely for eternity (e.g. Barbados (population: 275,000), area code 246.)
Lately a lot of numbers have gone to fax machines, cell phones, etc. But now the demand for that is slowing. In fact here in NC they just announced they are going to delay requring 10 digit local calling by 2 years (needed because we will have 2 area codes in the same area) because demand for new numbers is lower.
Also now they give out new numbers is blocks of 1000 rather than 10,000. When they gave out 10,000 a lot of numbers were wasted because they never got assigned - the phone companies just kept the numbers.
quote by kpm
Also now they give out new numbers is blocks of 1000 rather than 10,000. When they gave out 10,000 a lot of numbers were wasted because they never got assigned - the phone companies just kept the numbers.
This brings up an excelent point. The proliferation of area code is only partly due to fax machines, cellular phones, etc. It is MOSTLY due to the proliferation of phone companies.
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Factsheets/areacode.html
Brian
It may in fact be slowing, but that announcement the other day said that the delay was because of the success of certain anti-number-proliferation strategies.
The 10 digit dialing is only required in the areas where there is another area code overlaid on a pre-existing one. The area has two area codes, in other words. I’m not sure why they have to do that, but the phone company press releases were pretty funny.
They answered the usual objections by saying, hey, we warned you a year ago, you should have had plenty of time to get ready for this. Ironic, no?
The Charlotte, NC area already has 10 digit local dialing. I live in the Raleigh area - they are now delaying our 10 digit dialing until 2003.
The reason phone companies wanted to keep extra numbers was they called it a “trade secret” - funny but true.
It used to be in some rural areas you could call various numbers and get the same line - it was called a bridged number. For example you could call 555-1100 through 555-1199 and they would all end up at the same phone line. This was because they were too lazy when they set up the numbers. I don’t think this happens now.
Man, the California PUC has already screwed up the electrical deregulation and they continue the trend with area codes. I can’t imagine that anybody likes the idea of an area code split when adding a new area code. In the Dallas area when the 972 code was added about 5-6 years ago, there was a huge outcry because it was a split and not an overlay. Essentially, downtown kept the 214 code and surrounding areas got the new 972 number. Some people tried to claim that this was unfair since poorer areas of town had to switch numbers and there was an unfair cost in printing new letterhead and business cards etc. When the new 469 area code was added a couple of years ago it was an overlay, and nobody whined about it.
Isn’t Mexicon in North America? But it’s not in the North American Numbering Plan.
I think I remember that Mexico was a part of NANP at one time, but it left the system and got assigned a separate country code.
Trivia question: what is the country code for members of the NANP?
Northern Mexico had 3 area codes at one time. Those were taken away and reassigned to the US.
Can’t find the Maine cite now but I will keep lookin’
I still think that instead of splitting up existing area codes into smaller one to accomodate all the new numbers, they should have just given all the fax, cells, pagers, etc their own area codes, and overlapped THAT.
On an overlay, as of July of this year – which caused a heap o’whining. The overlaid AC is 939.
Puerto Rico had already changed its AC - to the still-current 787 - in FY95, when the old 809 “Caribbean” AC was split (We may have been half the lines on 809 already)
Population near 4 million; highly industrialized; huge “Big Government” state (i.e. many ‘hotline’ phones from agency/municipality HQ to ‘essential’ field personnel); everyone and his dog (that’s hyperbole, boys and girls) has a cell phone AND a pager; a second land-line telco has opened in the last 2 years; and I lost count of how many wireless outfits we have around.
Iawoot – hey that’s not a bad idea… I’m sure someone will know the reason not to do so.