Area codes 215 and 267

Area code 716 Area code 585 Area code 607 Area code 845 Area codes 862 and 973 Area code 908 Area codes 410 and 443 Area code 302 Area codes 240 and 301 Area codes 234 and 330 Area code 440 Area code 724 Area code 878 Area code 724 Area code 814 Area codes 272 and 570 Area codes 484 and 610 Area code 856 Area codes 215 and 267 Area code 609 Area codes 223 and 717 Area code 412Area code 215
Pennsylvania (blue) with numbering plan area 215 shown in red. Note that this map is clickable; click on any area code to go to the page for that area code.

215 and 267 are the North American telephone area codes for the City of Philadelphia and the northern and eastern municipalities in Bucks and Montgomery Counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Area code 215 was one of the original area codes established in 1947 and originally included the entire southeastern part of the Commonwealth, from the Delaware border to the Lehigh Valley. Pennsylvania was divided into four numbering plan areas, after New York state the most in the Bell System, together with Illinois, Ohio, and Texas.

On January 8, 1994, the area served by 215 was split. Most of its western portion, i.e. Philadelphia's southern and western suburbs, most of Berks County and the Lehigh Valley, changed to area code 610, while Philadelphia and its northern suburbs remained 215. However, three central office codes were moved from 215 to 717, namely 267 in Denver, 484 in Adamstown and 445 in Terre Hill, with 215-267 becoming 717-336 because 717-267 was already in use. These exchanges were all served by non-Bell telephone companies which sought to consolidate their eastern Pennsylvania customers into one area code, and would have had to change area codes anyway. The codes 267 and 484 were later used for overlay area codes in 215 and 610 respectively.

This was intended as a long-term solution, but within two years 215 was close to exhaustion due to the rapid growth of the Philadelphia area and the proliferation of cell phones and pagers. The supply of numbers was further limited because the entire state of Delaware is part of the Philadelphia LATA, meaning several exchanges in Delaware's 302 weren't available for use. To solve the problem, overlay code 267 was established July 1, 1997. Local calls across the Delaware/Pennsylvania border have been changed to 10-digit dialing to remove some restrictions on prefix assignments.

Area code 445 was first proposed in July 2000 as an overlay with area codes 215 and 267.[1] However, these plans were delayed and then rescinded in 2003 by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.[2] The need for new phone numbers in area codes 215/267 was delayed until 2018. In December of 2016, it was announced that area code 445 will be activated as an additional overlay area code on March 3, 2018. [3]

Counties served

Philadelphia was located in the original numbering plan area 215; 267 was added in 1997.

The 215/267 area codes serve all or part of five counties in Pennsylvania.[4]


Places with over 30,000 inhabitants

See also

References

  1. ↑ "NPA 445 to Overlay NPAs 215 and 267 (Pennsylvania) / NPA 835 to Overlay NPAs 610 and 484 (Pennsylvania)" (PDF). (582 KiB)
  2. ↑ "NPA 445 Implementation for 215/267 NPA Rescinded — 445 NPA Code Reclaimed" (PDF). (64.5 KiB)
  3. ↑ "NPA 445 to Overlay NPAs 215/267 (Pennsylvania)" (PDF). (1.1 MiB)
  4. ↑ Area Code 215 and 267 Map (PDF) (Map). Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
Pennsylvania area codes: 215, 223, 267, 272, 412, 484, 570, 610, 717, 724, 814, 878
North: 484/610, 908
West: 484/610 215/267/(445) East: 609/(640)
South: 856
New Jersey area codes: 201, 551, 609, 732, 848, 856, 862, 908, 973

Coordinates: 39°59′24″N 75°09′14″W / 39.990°N 75.154°W / 39.990; -75.154

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