Area codes 862 and 973

Area codes 973 and 862 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) in the northern-most part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The numbering plan area (NPA) comprises the counties, or parts, of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Union Counties. Cities in this service area include Newark, Paterson, Clifton, Passaic, Montclair, Morristown, Parsippany, Dover, Maplewood, and The Oranges.

Numbering plan areas of New Jersey

Area code 973 was created on June 1, 1997, in a split of area code 201,[1][2] which was the original area code of all of New Jersey when the North American Numbering Plan was inaugurated for nationwide operator dialing in 1947. In 1958, the numbering plan area of 201 was reduced to just northern New Jersey, and in 1991 to just the northeastern part through area code splits. Due to the expansion of cell phones, pages, and fax machines in the 1990s, the area code experienced the threat of exhaustion of the numbering pool.

The creation of 973 was intended as a long-term solution. However, within three years, it was close to exhaustion once again. For relief, the numbering plan area was assigned a second area code 862 in an overlay plan, making ten-digit dialing mandatory on December 1, 2001. This overlay was rolled out in conjunction with two other overlays in the northern half of the state.[3] Verizon, the main telephone provider in the region, pressed for an overlay in order to spare North Jerseyans the expense and burden of having to change their numbers for the second time in a decade.

See also

References
  1. Newman, Andy. "New Area Codes Introduced", The New York Times, June 2, 1997. Accessed January 23, 2008.
  2. About Verizon New Jersey: Years 1985 to 1998 Archived November 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Verizon Communications, accessed May 12, 2007.
  3. The Record (Bergen County), April 18, 2001. Accessed August 11, 2001. "The new New Jersey area codes -- 551, 356, and 848 -- were announced this week and will be introduced next year in the regions currently served by 201, 973, and 732, respectively."
New Jersey area codes: 201/551, 609/640, 732/848, 856, 862/973, 908
North: 845
West: 570/272, 908 862/973 East: 201/551
South: 609/640, 908, 732
New York area codes: 212/332/646, 315/680, 347/718/929, 516, 518/838, 585, 607, 631/934, 716, 845, 914, 917
Pennsylvania area codes: 215/267/445, 223/717, 272/570, 412, 484/610, 724, 814, 878


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