NYC may need another telephone area code very soon

[Shortline Bus]

Here story of NYC running out of phone numbers and a new area code needed very soon.

 

New York City outgrows its area codes again; 718 and 347 numbers will run out by 2011, says city

 

By Tim Persinko and Erin Durkin

NY DAILY NEWS WRITERS

 

Updated Saturday, May 16th 2009

 

There are millions of phones in the naked city . . . so many, in fact, that we're going to need another new area code.

 

Five area codes for New York City aren't enough.

 

Numbers in the 718 and 347 area codes - which cover Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island - will run out by late 2011, according to the state Public Service Commission.

 

Officials are debating whether to apply the new area code just to the outer boroughs or to include Manhattan - where 212 and 646 numbers are set to run out by 2014. Phone companies are pushing the outer-borough option, a PSC report said. The reason for the lack of hone numbers has been the rapid growth of celluar phones, blackberries, etc.

 

Some city dialers weren't happy about the prospect of new digits.

 

"It's just the fab," Termaine Tyler, 36, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, said of his beloved 718 area code.

 

All 718 numbers are taken. And 571 of the 792 possible 347 exchanges - about 72% - also are gone.

 

The new area code hasn't been chosen. It will be picked from a pool of available numbers, with certain restrictions. No area code can start with 0 or 1, and 8 is reserved for toll-free numbers.

 

When area codes were first introduced in the 1940s, big cities like New York were favored with low numbers - making them easier to dial on a rotary phone. That's how 212 came to be.

 

"I wish that I had a 212 number, because that is the classic, glamorous New York number," said Gabrielle Nadig, 21, of Gramercy Park.

 

Zazie Beetz, 17, of Harlem, said the city's fifth area code, introduced in 1999, is remote enough.

 

"It's just so out there," she said, of the 347 area code. "It seems so far away."

 

But David Hayden, 29, of Chelsea, insisted he feels no stigma from his 347 number, and wouldn't mind bearing the new code.

 

"Area codes don't matter anymore because of cell phones," Hayden said. "There shouldn't be any new area codes - people should just Twitter."

 

c)2009 NY Daily News, Inc.

 

Any reactions?

[MTR Admiralty]

IMO, having an 8 digit phone number (minus area code) will help out. While it's fine to have a new area code, but think of it, with the number of inhabitants in New York City increasing year by year, and more and more businesses will be expected and more and more cell phones will be used, a new code will max out anytime. Having 8 numbers instead of 7 numbers could help a lot for the country as it offers new combinations. It's hard to change that now, but it could be better off, in the long run, dialling an extra number.

[Shortline Bus]

I remember as late as a young preteen boy in 1984-85, NYC had just 1 area code the oringal '212.'

 

When NY telephone(now Verzion) created 718 in 1985-86, some people in the outerboroughs were not happy. The Bronx stayed with Manhattan as '212' until 1990 then joined the other '4' boros. The other NYC area code ie 917, 347, etc came much later.

 

The good days when you dont need a pyshics degree to operate a phone or television lol.

[Maserati7200]

I remember when you didn't even have to dial the area code. Then when I was in 3rd grade, my mom told me I had to add 718 to every number I call in Brooklyn.

[Shortline Bus]

I remember when all you didn't even have to dial the area code. Then when I was in 3rd grade, my mom told me I had to add 718 to every number I call in Brooklyn.

 

Actually the 718 area code started in NYC in 1985-86 about 15 years before you started 3 grade.

[MTR Admiralty]

I remember when all you didn't even have to dial the area code. Then when I was in 3rd grade, my mom told me I had to add 718 to every number I call in Brooklyn.

I remembered that vividly. In Manhattan, the area code was needed if you dialled outside the borough or if you were calling a phone that was not a landline. Then around 2003, I think, we had to dial the area code for EVERYTHING.

[Maserati7200]

Actually the 718 area code started in NYC in 1985-86 about 15 years before you started 3 grade.

 

Yeah but when I would call my friends in Brooklyn, I wouldn't need to dial 718 and their number, I'd just have to dial their number.

[Shortline Bus]

My area that i now live in,the Hudson Valley from Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan and Ulster Counties used to be '914' phone code as well. The area became '845' around 1995-96.

[Dave160]

I remember when you didn't even have to dial the area code. Then when I was in 3rd grade, my mom told me I had to add 718 to every number I call in Brooklyn.

 

I remember that too when I was younger, but then I was told later on I needed to dial an area code to make a call.

[metsfan]

We are still filling out the 215 area code, it is primarily reserved for bucks county and philadelphia county, with some going to cell and 90% going to landline. We have 267 as our cell area code, however state agencies can reserve that for whatever use as well, back in the day they couldn't do this, but since the only difference is the physical source (antenna vs land fixed), they can easily assign the number wherever.

 

My girlfriend who lives in bayonne now has a 215 cell number like me (muahaha) and they only become available for cell use when a company stops using it, because otherwise it would go to residential use.

 

- A

[Shortline Bus]

We are still filling out the 215 area code, it is primarily reserved for bucks county and philadelphia county, with some going to cell and 90% going to landline. We have 267 as our cell area code, however state agencies can reserve that for whatever use as well, back in the day they couldn't do this, but since the only difference is the physical source (antenna vs land fixed), they can easily assign the number wherever.

 

My girlfriend who lives in bayonne now has a 215 cell number like me (muahaha) and they only become available for cell use when a company stops using it, because otherwise it would go to residential use.

 

- A

 

Actually its a suprise the Philly area (not counting the nearby suburus) still has one main area code (215)for the city. Most of the other huge cities in the country ie LA, Chicago, Washington, Dallas, Atlanta, and of course NYC now have 2-3 or more area codes just in the same city.

 

New Jersey about 25 years ago only had '2' area codes, '201' for north jersey and '609' for points along Trenton(Interstate 195)and South NJ. Now NJ has 6 area codes.