Who participates in the North American Numbering Plan?
The United States, Canada and a number of Caribbean nations. How and why are new area codes introduced? The demand for telephone numbers has increased with the growth of wireless telephones, fax machines and the use of additional lines in homes and businesses. As the number of telephone number is exhausted in a given area code a new area code must be added. New area codes are added either as an overlay or a geographic split. What is an area code overlay? In an overlay, the new area code has the same geographic boundary as the existing area code. Existing phone numbers and local calling scopes don’t change, but 10-digit local dialing becomes necessary. Ten digit dialing is necessary because two different homes in the same geographic area can have the same seven digit phone number but each would have a different area code. What is a geographic split? A geographic split divides an area code into two or more areas with each area receiving its own area code. Although local calls from one ar
