Area codes 208 and 986 are telephone

area codes 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, reach ...

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 ...

for all of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

. Area code 208 is one of the 86 original area codes created by the

American Telephone and Telegraph Company AT&T Corporation, an abbreviation for its former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was an American telecommunications company that provided voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to busi ...

(AT&T) in 1947, and was Idaho's sole area code for seventy years. In 2017, 986 was added as a second area code to the same numbering plan area by creating an

overlay complex 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 ...

History

Because of its small population, Idaho was among a declining number of North American jurisdictions with only one area code. It is also one of the few whole-state area codes split between multiple LATAs—Southern Idaho (centered in Boise and spilling into

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

and

Malheur County, Oregon Malheur County (, ) is one of the List of counties in Oregon, 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 31,571. Its county seat is Vale, Oregon, Vale, and its largest city ...

) and Coeur d'Alene (spilling into

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

and Washington). Additionally, the

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

LATA spills into central Idaho. In 2001, the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

projected that demand would exhaust the numbering pool of area code 208 in 2003. The number shortage was a result of the proliferation of landlines, cellphones, and pagers, particularly in urban areas, in the 1990s. However, in 2002 the

Idaho Public Utilities Commission The Idaho Public Utilities Commission is a public utilities commission, a quasi-judicial tribunal, which regulates investor-owned or privately owned utilities that provide gas, water, electricity, or telephone service for profit in the U.S. state ...

(IPUC) successfully delayed a split by implementing

number pooling Telephone number pooling, thousands-block number pooling, or just number pooling, is a method of allocating telephony numbering space of the North American Numbering Plan in the United States. The method allocates telephone numbers in blocks of 1,0 ...

in Boise; this was later applied in 2007 to the rest of Idaho to stave off projected exhaustion in 2010.PUC orders "number pooling" to delay new area code
Accessed January 30, 2008 In the summer of 2013, NANPA projections suggested exhaustion in 2018. By this time all conservation measures had been exhausted. With Idaho's population growing closer to two million, a second area code became necessary; eleven other states with single area codes all have populations of about one million each. Ultimately, a statewide overlay was recommended.Saunders, Emilie Ritter
"Your Next Idaho Phone Number Might Not Start With 208"
Boise State Public Radio, June 18, 2013. (accessed February 21, 2015) This would have had the effect of assigning 15.6 million numbers to a state of just over 1.7 million people. However, the Idaho PUC wanted to spare Idahoans, particularly in rural areas, the expense and burden of having to change their numbers. An area code split would have also required ''en masse'' reprogramming of cell phones. In the overlay plan, subscribers with numbers in the original area code can keep it. On November 2, 2015, the Idaho PUC approved the addition of area code 986 as a statewide overlay. 986 officially entered service on November 5, 2016. On that date, a permissive dialing period began during which it was possible to make calls with either seven or ten digits. Ten-digit dialing became mandatory across Idaho on August 5, 2017.NANPA PL-490
/ref> 986 is the second statewide overlay, following the example of

area codes 304 and 681 Area codes 304 and 681 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the entirety of the U.S. state of West Virginia. The numbering plan area was established in October 1947 with area code 304, as one of the eighty-si ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

in 2009.

Service area and central office codes

Area code 208 Premium calls (unassigned)

211, 214, 229, 247, 248, 271, 279, 297, 306, 307, 311, 330, 361, 379, 411, 418, 439, 441, 445, 460, 479, 480, 485, 511, 545, 555, 567, 575, 603, 611, 626, 635, 692, 693, 694, 700, 711, 723, 728, 730, 811, 844, 903, 911, 928, 950, 952, 958, 959, 975, 976, 977, 978, 979, & 988.

Area code 986 Premium calls (unassigned)

202, 211, 228, 235, 284, 285, 287, 288, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 335, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 343, 344, 347, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 383, 384, 385, 387, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 420, 421, 423, 424, 425, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443, 445, 446, 447, 448, 449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480, 481, 483, 484, 485, 486, 487, 488, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 494, 495, 496, 498, 499, 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 506, 507, 508, 509, 510, 511, 512, 513, 514, 515, 516, 517, 518, 519, 520, 521, 522, 523, 524, 525, 527, 528, 530, 531, 532, 533, 534, 535, 536, 537, 538, 539, 540, 541, 543, 544, 545, 547, 548, 549, 550, 551, 552, 553, 554, 555, 556, 557, 558, 559, 560, 561, 562, 563, 564, 565, 567, 568, 569, 570, 571, 572, 573, 574, 575, 576, 577, 578, 579, 580, 581, 583, 584, 585, 586, 587, 589, 590, 591, 592, 593, 594, 595, 596, 597, 598, 599, 601, 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, 607, 608, 609, 610, 611, 612, 613, 614, 615, 616, 617, 618, 619, 620, 621, 622, 623, 624, 625, 626, 627, 628, 629, 630, 631, 632, 633, 634, 635, 637, 638, 639, 643, 644, 645, 647, 648, 649, 650, 651, 652, 653, 654, 655, 656, 657, 658, 659, 660, 661, 662, 663, 664, 665, 667, 669, 670, 672, 673, 674, 675, 676, 678, 679, 680, 681, 682, 683, 684, 685, 687, 688, 690, 691, 692, 693, 694, 695, 696, 697, 698, 699, 700, 701, 702, 703, 704, 705, 706, 707, 708, 709, 710, 711, 712, 713, 714, 715, 716, 717, 718, 719, 720, 721, 722, 723, 724, 725, 726, 727, 728, 729, 730, 731, 733, 734, 735, 736, 737, 738, 739, 740, 741, 743, 744, 745, 747, 748, 749, 750, 751, 752, 753, 754, 756, 757, 759, 760, 761, 762, 763, 764, 765, 767, 768, 769, 770, 771, 772, 773, 774, 775, 776, 778, 779, 780, 781, 783, 784, 785, 787, 788, 789, 790, 791, 792, 794, 795, 796, 797, 798, 799, 801, 802, 803, 804, 805, 806, 807, 808, 809, 811, 812, 813, 814, 815, 816, 817, 818, 819, 820, 821, 822, 823, 824, 825, 826, 827, 828, 829, 830, 831, 832, 833, 834, 835, 836, 838, 839, 840, 841, 843, 844, 845, 846, 847, 848, 849, 850, 851, 852, 853, 854, 855, 856, 857, 858, 859, 861, 862, 863, 864, 865, 868, 869, 870, 871, 872, 873, 875, 876, 877, 878, 879, 880, 881, 882, 883, 884, 885, 887, 889, 890, 891, 892, 893, 894, 897, 898, 901, 902, 903, 904, 905, 906, 907, 908, 909, 911, 912, 913, 914, 915, 916, 917, 918, 919, 920, 921, 923, 924, 925, 927, 928, 929, 930, 931, 932, 933, 934, 935, 936, 937, 938, 939, 940, 941, 943, 944, 945, 947, 948, 949, 950, 951, 952, 953, 954, 955, 956, 957, 958, 959, 960, 961, 962, 963, 964, 965, 966, 967, 968, 969, 970, 971, 972, 973, 974, 975, 976, 978, 979, 981, 983, 984, 985, 987, 988, 989, 990, 991, 992, 993, 994, 995, 996, 997, & 998.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Area Code 208 208 208 Telecommunications-related introductions in 1947