Area code 564
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564 is a proposed area code for the state of Washington covering all of Western Washington. It would be an overlay plan for the 206, 253, 360, and 425 area codes. As of 2006, it has not been implemented.
Originally, the 564 area code was intended only as an overlay of area code 360, which serves areas of Western Washington outside of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area. This version of the NPA was slated for implementation on July 29, 2000. Later, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) determined that the actual increase in need for new numbers in 360 had fallen short of projections, and postponed the NPA until at least February 2001.
In May 2000, the commission projected that the metropolitan Seattle area codes (206, 253, and 425) would also soon exhaust their number pools, and expanded the 564 plan to include those areas as well. By the summer, however, this was determined to be not immediately necessary.
The NPA was then planned for application on October 20, 2001. If introduced, it would have introduced mandatory 10-digit dialing to the entire Western Washington region. It would also have been the first overlay plan code in the western U.S., which ultimately was Oregon's area code 971.
On August 22, 2001, the WUTC announced that, due to increased efficiency in the reuse of the existing number pool, the immediate need for the new NPA had subsided. Part of this was also attributed to a downturn in the telecommunications sector. The commission put off implementation until no earlier than October 20, 2002. As of 2006, this NPA has not been implemented.
Since the development of the initial plan for the area code, the WUTC and the NANPA have rebuffed the telephone companies' request for a new NPA and instead directed them to actively share and efficiently use the number blocks already assigned. This mainly refers to the practice of number pooling, or dividing telephone exchanges (aka prefixes) into up to 10 1,000-number blocks, instead of a whole prefix's numbering space being assigned wholesale to one carrier.
The earliest current NANP estimate for when any Western Washington area code will run out of number blocks is the first quarter of 2010, as the WUTC has taken further steps to decrease the need for new number blocks in 360 and 509 and head off the need for new NPAs.
[edit] External links
- NPA Exhaust Forecasts Sorted by NPA October 31, 2006
- WUTC postpones area code 564 overlay and mandatory 10-digit dialing August 22, 2001
- WUTC to consider delaying introduction of new 564 area code August 17, 2001
- New 564 Area Code Requires 10-Digit Local Dialing
- WUTC orders telephone companies to share prefixes in area code 360
- WUTC orders additional steps to extend the life of area codes 360 and 509 October 23, 2002
