Area code 423

Area Code 423 is an area code in Tennessee that covers two separate areas of East Tennessee.

Principal cities in the northern part of the area code region are Bristol, Johnson City and Kingsport (more commonly known as the Tri-Cities). The principal cities in the south are Chattanooga and Cleveland.

History

Area code 423 was created in 1995 when it was split off from Area code 615. It was the state's first new area code in 41 years. Originally it consisted of the eastern third of the state, while area code 615 continued to serve the middle third of the state. As a result, the state's three area codes were roughly coextensive with the traditional Grand Divisions of Tennessee; 423 served almost all of East Tennessee, 615 served Middle Tennessee and 901 served West Tennessee.

However, by early 1999, 423 was already close to exhaustion due to the proliferation of cell phones and pagers. It was decided to split off the Knoxville area as Area code 865. The split began that October, and became mandatory in Feburary 2000.^[1][2]

This created one of the few area codes in the nation that is not contiguous, as 865 is almost entirely surrounded by 423. The North American Numbering Plan Administration apparently viewed this as a temporary solution, as it initially determined that the reconfigured 423 would not be exhausted until around 2010.^[3] However, with the 2002 implementation of number pooling in the southern portion of the area code (the Chattanooga area), the Tennessee Regulatory Authority now projects that 423 will not be exhausted until 2015.^[4]

See also

• NANPA Area Code Map of Tennessee
• List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload.com, 423 Area Code

References