Area codes 617 and 857

Map showing the region covered by area codes 617 and 857
Map of current Massachusetts area codes (since May 2001)
Massachusetts area codes October 1947-July 1988

Area codes 617 and 857 are area codes serving Boston and several surrounding communities in Massachusetts--such as Brookline, Cambridge, Newton and Quincy (LATA code 128).

The main area code, 617, was one of the original area codes from October 1947, and originally covered the eastern two-thirds of Massachusetts, from roughly the western end of Worcester County to Cape Cod and the South Coast. The decision to assign 617 to Boston was somewhat unusual, since the North American Numbering Plan Administrator wanted to keep the number of "clicks" to a minimum for large cities given the rotary dialing technology of the time.[1] Area code 617 has 14 clicks, one of the most for an original area code assigned to a major city.

In July 1988, most of the western and southern portions of the old 617 territory, including Worcester, the South Coast and the Cape and Islands was split off as area code 508. It was split again in 1997, when most of Boston's outer suburbs split off as 781. This reduced 617 to Boston itself and its closer-in suburbs--an area largely coextensive with the inner ring of Greater Boston.

This was intended as a long-term solution, but within three years 617 was close to exhaustion once again due to the demand for more phone lines for auxiliary devices (mobile phones, fax machines, pagers, and BBS lines). The supply of numbers was further limited because the entire eastern half of Massachusetts is still a single LATA, and several numbers in 508 weren't available for use. On May 2, 2001, 857 was overlaid onto 617. Since then, 10 digit local dialing is mandatory.


Splits from area code 617

Communities

Counties

Portions of the following counties are covered:

Central Office codes (By location)

(617)-NXX

(857)-NXX

N11 codes

Main article: N11 code

See also

References

  1. ↑ Darling, David (2004). The Universal Book of Mathematics: From Abracadabra to Zeno's Paradoxes. John Wiley & Sons. p. 23. ISBN 0471270474. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
  2. ↑ 511 Massachusetts
  3. ↑ Mass Relay
  4. ↑ Dig Safe
  5. ↑ FCC Doc. No. 92-105

External links

Massachusetts area codes: 339, 351, 413, 508, 617, 774, 781, 857, 978
North: 339/781
West: 339/781 Area codes 617/857 East: Atlantic Ocean
South: 339/781