My life through the Area Code
 

So the lowly area code... it's status to some, the 212 area code means Manhattan... not just New York, but MANHATTAN. Over the past few decades area codes in most major metroplolitans have been splintered even further due to pagers, fax machines, cellphones, or even second phone numbers for dialup/children/home offices. American Idol contestant, Ruben Studdard wears 205 on his shirt proudly. There are still some states that have just one area code for the entire state. I never really thought about how much three little numbers can affect your life.

Initially I grew up in the 213 area code, Los Angeles. I learned lots about the phone systems when I was a youngster. Even before phone phreaks, I was figuring out prefix blocks and where they were located in Los Angeles. You gave me the first three digits of your phone number and I told you where you lived according to the telephone company. When I was in high school the San Fernando Vally separated exchanges and the 818 area code was born. I had some friends who lived in the hills in between LA and the SFV and they had two phones one in 818 and the other in 213.

When I graduated High School, I moved to the 415 area code (San Francisco area) for a few years before moving back to the 818 area.

For a year or two I left the whole area code scene and move to a different country. So country codes became important to me. I moved all the way to South East Asia and lived in 65 (Singapore) so my friends now had to dial a 0-11-65 to reach me.

But soon I moved back to 818, my girflfriend at the time also moved from 65 to 303 (Colorado) When she turned 18 we lived together in 818 but that didn't last and we split up. I needed a change of scenery. My business partner and I decided to move our computer consulting business to 702 (Las Vegas) but at the last minute I changed my mind. I took a job in the 212 area code, but lived near by in 201 (Northern New Jersey)

I worked and lived with my boss for 3 years. It was very challenging to do, but after some time I needed to move on. I moved again, but stayed withing the 201 area code landing in Frank Sinatra's birthplace Hoboken.

I met this really nice girl, she lived in 718 (Queens) and eventually I moved in with her. It didn't work out and I found my own space not too far away but still I stayed 718.

When I met my wife, she was living in 212 and I was 718. We dated for a long while and jumped around from 718 to 212 all the time. Sometimes for weeks at a time. It got really annoying going back and forth. We had to remember that we had to dial differing area codes depending on where we were just to call friends.

Eventually it was time for us to decide what we were doing. We had a friend who was working in 516 (Nassau County), he promised us that as soon as he had job openings we'd have jobs out there. So we moved from 212/718 to 516. We didn't even think about how far the commute from 516 to 212 was going to be in the interim. Nevertheless, neither of us got jobs, the company folded and we were now stuck in 516.


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We're now about to move from 516 Hicksville, Long Island back to NYC. I'm not sure if we are going to get 212 or not. There are some new area codes to pick from... so I won't know for at least a couple more months. I carry a cellphone that is 917 which is local to NYC area codes. Recently the phone company insituted 11 digit dialing so that even if you are dialing in the same area code you have to dial 1 area code, then the number. It's annoying.

What area codes have you lived and worked in?

Area Code Map to help you figure it out.

Born in Ruben's area code (205). Eventually, even Alabama grew big enough for multiple area codes, and mine became 334 one day (without even moving).

Worked in Greensboro, North Carolina once, which was 704 back then (although i think it's 336 now).

Lived in Iowa for awhile, which was 515.

Lived in Mississippi, also. It was 601 when I moved there, and changed to 662 soon after.

Oops, I left out Florida. It was 904 at first, and then changed to 850 while I was there.

lived in 416, which was split to 416/905 - I stayed in the 905 side, then moved to country +372, and now back living in 905.

Re: My life through the Area Code
 

My wife grew up in Hicksville (not that anyone really cares, but hey...) I (we) are now in area code 402, which encompasses all of Nebraska. Now ask me why a guy from Pennsylvania (814), and a gal from Long Island are doing in Nebraska...I still don't know:(

Just been in good ole 847 forever. :) Of course I think it used to be 708 or something, but then Chicago got all weird and changed things around.

yep I've been 415 and 212 also.
did 10 years in SF and 3 in NYC

the rest are "everybody knows this is nowhere"

Area codes are now meaningless because so many cities have several overlapping areas. In Atlanta we have 770 encircling 404 and 678 overlaps both. We have mandatory 10 digit dialing.

When all of this started about 7 years ago, I thought that going to an 8 digit phone number made a whole lot more sense. It maintained the integrety of the area code system. More importantly, it would increase the available numbers ten fold, rather than just doubling them with each new area code. I know this would have caused software and hardware problems, but not anymore than we have with the current system.

But then, no one ever listens to me anyway.

Area codes never really meant anything in Chicagoland - at least no more than that you lived within a certain geography. No status was ever assigned to them that I know of.

I've gone through 3 different area codes without moving - my home, in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and about a 45 minute drive away, was part of the 312 area code for the first portion of my childhood years. At some point, this got changed to 708 (I was old enough to vaguely remember this - probably 2nd grade or so) and that stuck for awhile. Probably around 8th grade it got switched to 847. Now, instead of splitting up an area into multiple area codes again, they're being more arbitrary about it and making us have to dial 11 digits no matter where we call - even within our own area code. It's pretty rediculous if you ask me.

Right now I'm living at school in the 773 area code which was formed at the same time as the 847 area code. 312, which used to encompass all of Chicagoland when I was a youngin, is now limited to only downtown Chicago.

there was a day when all of arizona was the 602... whole damn state. then they decided that 602 would stick to phoenix and everyone else would get 520. that worked for a while, but the souther cities started growing even more and they decided to split the state again, phx stuck with the 602, southern az got the 520, and nortrher arizona became 928. around that time they decided that the metro was getting too big, so they split it into three area codes... 480 for the east valley, 602 for most of phoenix proper, and 623 for the west valley... and that's where we're at at this point. i live in the 480... but my cellphone has a 602 number...

it was a hassle for a little while, getting used to all of the changes, but it's another part of arizona life now.

Re: Re: My life through the Area Code
 

Dont mean to be rude, but isnt half of nebraska in 308 and the other half in 402?

New Hampshire is always 603

I lived in 502(kentucky) until a few years ago it changed to 270(Western Kentucky) I guess we just don't have any big cities on this side of the state :)

Yeah, I have a house outside the ATL perimeter in 770, an apartment in the city at 404, and a cell phone in 678 that moves back and forth, plus a cabin in the mountains at 706, so I'm all confused. Not nearly as complicated as Cynthetiq though. Man, that's crazy.

i've always lived here in beantown, but we change area codes about every 5 years because our pol's are incompetent morons. So i've been 617, 781, oh but now if you include cellphones its also 335.

I house, 3 area codes, gotta love boston

the 805 is a large areacode, so the kids around here have 'oneeighteen' stickers on their cars... I think that's because the freeway that everyone lives along up here is the 118

I miss 516. I remember when it was all of Long Island. My brother just moved to Suffolk County, and when he gave me the phone number to his house, I noticed that he's in 631, which I guess is somewhat new. My current 757 is relatively new too, it was created around the time I moved here when Hampton Roads and Southeastern Virginia broke off from 804, which is Richmond and Northern VA.

I wear 212 cologne, incidentally... mainly because of my ties to the NYC area. It's "the scent of the city" by Carolina Herrera.

(And before you non-NYC'ers get the chance to make the joke, it DOESN'T smell like taxi exhaust, a Penn Station bathroom, the Hudson River or a Staten Island Landfill.)

http://www.findascent.com/imagesm/02271270305.jpg

-Mikey

203 for all 19 years

Did you all know that when area codes were first assigned, the lower the number, the greater the population within the covered area. Of course, population rankings changed over time and now this has absolutely no meaning because of all the overlapping codes.

yes, just like they either had a 1 or a 0 in the middle of them.. now it's meaningless.

Lived in the Bahamas in 1969/70, area code 242. My phone number was 9040. It was a small island.

I grew up in 206 (NW WA) before it became 360, and then I moved out of the state before it split even further. I lived in 503 (Portland Metro) when they instituted mandatory 10-digit dialing because of a new overlapping area code. Now I live in 541 (Western OR) and my parents live in 360 (NW WA). Keeps things simple. I think before too long we're all going to have 10-digit dialing.

604 for most of BC.born and raised in 604 land.

Born in 405
Raised in 203
Most adult life in 760
And now in 703

OKC, OK; NH, CT; NCSD, CA; NOVA (near DC)

I always say...
born a cowboy
raised a Yankee
grew up a beach bum
and now I'll die a rebel.

the girls always like that for some reason.;)

Somehow I feel Area Code impaired. Except for a short period when I lived in 415, my whole life has been in 707. Now they are talking about splitting it and I'll get a new one.

The reason why was... remember the old "rotary phones"? Lower numbers took the shortest time to dial. So the most frequently used area codes (212-NY, 213-LA, 312-CHI, and so forth) took less time to dial.

-Mikey

I was in the 312 area code, until it switched to 773. I have family in the suburbs that switched from 708 to 847.

I've lived worked and gotten married in (715). Half of my state is 715 the other is 608. Hubby grew up in a 715 too about 2 hours from my home town. Guess I haven't gotten around too much. Never lived or worked anywhere else.

We lived in 405 for a long time - we lost it and became 580 - We moved up here and we were 316 - we lost it and now we are 620. It's kinda' amazing that an area code can be for half the entire state and the major city suddenly need the whole area code for itself - that has happened to us twice.

It's funny living in NY now. (if you're asking it's no sleep 'till.......718!) You have to dial the area code for everything. Like if I'm calling my pal who lives a hop, skip, and a white castle away, I still have to dial 718. Add to that people getting 646 for both land lines and cell phones, and it's getting kind of arbitrary.

I lived and worked in the area code 216 until about 3 years ago they changed it to 330.

Born 916, lived there for 17 years, moved to 409 (but that map doesn't show that as the right spot), moved to 940, then to 972, then back to 916 (which in the time I was gone had changed to 530), and now 972 again... but my cell phone's still 530 *grins* That way my family can call me and it's not long distance :)

Oh, and we're 10 digit dialing here.

406. Only one area code in MT.