Area codes 860 and 959 are

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, rea ...

s in the

North American Numbering Plan The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is an integrated telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1, World Numbering Zone ...

in the U.S. state of

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. They are arranged in an

overlay plan In telecommunications, an area code overlay complex is a telephone numbering plan that assigns multiple area codes to the same geographic numbering plan area (NPA). Area code overlays are implemented in territories of the North American Numbe ...

that covers most of the state, except its southwest, which uses

area codes 203 and 475 Area codes 203 and 475 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The numbering plan area (NPA) is mostly coextensive with the Connecticut portion of the New Y ...

. Area code 860 was created on August 28, 1995, as a numbering plan area split from area code 203, in which the latter was reduced to

Fairfield County Fairfield County is the name of three counties in the United States: * Fairfield County, Connecticut * Fairfield County, Ohio * Fairfield County, South Carolina {{Geodis, uscounty ...

(except for Sherman) and New Haven County, plus part of Litchfield County (

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

, Woodbury, and a small part of Roxbury). Dialing of area code 860 became mandatory on October 4, 1996. Area code 959 was originally announced in August 1999 to overlay area code 860, but implementation efforts were delayed for over a decade, culminating in an effective starting date for operation of August 30, 2014. Nevertheless, all calls within Connecticut required

ten-digit dialing Ten-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure in the countries and territories of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It is the practice of including the area code of a telephone number when Dialling (telephony), dialing to initiate a t ...

as of November 14, 2009.

1999 overlay proposal

In August 1999, the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control proposed an area code overlay for numbering plan area 860, adding the new area code 959. This proposal was postponed for nearly a decade due to number conservation measures; in September 2008, the overlay was scheduled within two years (as of August 30, 2011, an activation date for 959 had not been announced). In March 2009, it was announced that the 203/475 overlay would be activated on December 12, 2009, with the 860/959 overlay becoming active by 2011. Even though the 959 area code did not have a specific start date, all callers in Connecticut were required to dial ten digits, including the area code. A leading ''1'' is required for originating toll calls from landlines, effective November 14, 2009, to reach another Connecticut number, including calls involving two numbers with the same area code. On August 27, 2013, the NANPA issued Planning Letter 456 which states that the 959 area code would go into effect on August 30, 2014. The first 959 area code numbers were distributed in December 2015.

Major cities and towns

* Bloomfield *

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

* East Hartford * East Lyme * Enfield *

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

* Groton *

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

* Litchfield *

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

* Middletown *

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

* New London * New Milford *

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

* Old Lyme * Sherman * Southington * Storrs * Stonington * Torrington *

West Hartford West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, west of downtown Hartford. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region. The population was 64,083 at the 2020 census. The town's popular downtown area is colloquiall ...

* Willimantic * Windsor

References

External links

List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload.com, 860 Area Code
��1999 news story on planned overlay {{DEFAULTSORT:Area Code 860 Telecommunications-related introductions in 1995 860 860 Hartford County, Connecticut Litchfield County, Connecticut Middlesex County, Connecticut New Haven County, Connecticut New London County, Connecticut Tolland County, Connecticut Windham County, Connecticut