Area code 917 is a

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits 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 efficiently the human voice, into e ...

area code in the

North American Numbering Plan The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a 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 and has the international calling ...

for the five

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, and Staten Island. It is an overlay code to all numbering plan areas (NPAs) in the city, and was intended to serve cellular,

pager A pager (also known as a beeper or bleeper) is a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays alphanumeric or voice messages. One-way pagers can only receive messages, while response pagers and two-way pagers can also acknow ...

, and

voicemail A voicemail system (also known as voice message or voice bank) is a computer-based system that allows users and subscribers to exchange personal voice messages; to select and deliver voice information; and to process transactions relating to ind ...

applications in the city, a restriction that was subsequently ruled impermissible by the

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

(FCC) while grandfathering that use in New York City. Area code 917 is also assigned to landlines predominantly in Manhattan, to relieve the shortage of numbers there.

History

The original area code for all of New York City's boroughs was 212, established with the North American Numbering Plan in 1947. In 1984, the numbering plan area (NPA) was divided by splitting Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island into a separate numbering plan area with area code 718, reducing 212 to only Manhattan and the Bronx. In 1990, The New York Telephone Company wanted to assign a new area code (917) to all cellphones and pagers in Manhattan and all telephone lines in the Bronx, to relieve number shortages in Manhattan, but the

New York Public Service Commission The New York Public Service Commission is the public utilities commission of the New York state government that regulates and oversees the electric, gas, water, and telecommunication industries in New York as part of the Department of Public Servi ...

denied the request.McFadden, Robert D
"917 Area Code Is Proposed For the Bronx"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. June 5, 1990. Instead, in 1992, numbering plan area 212 was reduced to Manhattan, with the exception of Marble Hill, which, along with the Bronx, was integrated into 718. All boroughs were provided with the additional area code 917, arranged in an overlay plan. Introduced on February 4, 1992, area code 917 was the first overlay area code in the North American Numbering Plan. When it was established, all cellphones in New York City were switched to 917, freeing up telephone numbers for additional landlines. Shortly after the establishment of the 917 code, the FCC ruled that restriction of area codes to particular types of service was prohibited, but the instance of 917 remained grandfathered.

References

External links

North American Numbering Plan Administrator

Whitepages Area code Map

{{DEFAULTSORT:Area Code 917 917 917 Communications in New York City Telecommunications-related introductions in 1992 1992 establishments in New York City New York City

History

See also

References

External links