Area codes 212, 646, and 332 are area codes 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 ...

(NANP) for most of the

borough 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

. By area, it is one of the smallest numbering plan areas (NPAs). The three area codes form an overlay numbering plan, and are also overlaid by area code 917 of a numbering plan area that comprises the entirety of New York City. Area code 212 is the original code assigned for all of the city in 1947. After a restriction of 212 to just Manhattan in 1985, area code 646 was assigned in 1999. In 2015, area code 332 was added to the Manhattan overlay.

History

Area code 212 is one of the original 86 area codes assigned by

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...

in 1947, originally serving all five boroughs of New York City. For the next 37 years, New York City was one of the largest toll-free calling zones in North America. On February 1, 1984, in response to a request from New York Telephone, 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 ...

voted to create a second area code for New York City. The split was implemented in a way that divided the city's three million telephone numbers roughly in half.

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 ...

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 received the new

area code 718 Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open ...

, while Manhattan and

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 ...

kept 212. Amid protests from local officials and state lawmakers, the commission was persuaded by New York Telephone's reasoning that a new area code was needed to "prevent an impending exhaustion of

telephone number A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or to a wireless electronic telephony device, such as a radio telephone or a mobile telephone, or to other devices f ...

s." New York Telephone made some 718 telephone numbers operational several days in advance. Despite state lawmakers for the outer boroughs threatening legislation to stop the division, 718 began its split as scheduled on September 1, 1984.

Permissive dialing In North America, permissive dialing is the ability to make phone calls in an area subject to a newly introduced area code by using both the new and preexisting dialing methods. When an area is given a new area code under a split plan, the area's ...

of 212 continued across New York City, during which either 212 or 718 could be used, until January 1, 1985, when the use of 718 became mandatory for the boroughs affected. On July 1, 1992, the 718 territory was expanded to include the Bronx and the Marble Hill neighborhood of Manhattan (see below), while the rest of Manhattan remained in 212. Permissive dialing of 212 continued across the Bronx until May 16, 1993, during which either 212 or 718 could be used; after that date, 718 had to be used for telephone calls to the Bronx from everywhere outside the borough except the three boroughs that originally had the 718 code, and Bronx residents telephoning Manhattan had to dial 212. On September 25, 1993, callers from the Bronx no longer had to dial 718 to reach Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. In 1992, the entire city was overlaid with area code 917, which had originally been planned for only the Bronx and mobile service. With available 917 mobile numbers becoming scarce, area code 646 was implemented on July 1, 1999, as an overlay for Manhattan. During November 2015, area code 332 was assigned as a third overlay area code for Manhattan, the fourth serving the area and the seventh serving New York City. Area code 332 became active on June 10, 2017, as area code 212 was expected to become depleted of numbers during the third quarter of 2017,2015-1 NRUF and NPA Exhaust Analysis
. ''

North American Numbering Plan Administration 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 ...

''. Retrieved June 9, 2017. and 646 is expected to become depleted of numbers by 2018. This effectively allocates 23.4 million numbers to a borough of 1.6 million people.

Marble Hill

The Manhattan neighborhood of Marble Hill is located in the 718/347/929 numbering plan area (NPA), rather than the Manhattan NPA. Marble Hill, although administratively a part of the Borough of Manhattan, was severed from Manhattan Island by the construction of the

Harlem River Ship Canal Spuyten Duyvil Creek () is a short tidal estuary in New York City connecting the Hudson River to the Harlem River Ship Canal and then on to the Harlem River. The confluence of the three water bodies separate the island of Manhattan from t ...

during 1895. The by-passed segment of the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyt ...

was filled in 1914, making the community a geographic part of the Bronx. When the Bronx was reassigned with area code 718 in 1992, Marble Hill residents fought unsuccessfully to retain 212. Marble Hill's trunks are wired into the Bronx wire center, as it would have been too expensive for New York Telephone to rewire them.

Market reputation

A business with a 212 area code is often perceived as having the prestige of Manhattan and the convenience of stability, particularly if a number has been in service for several decades. One example is PEnnsylvania 6-5000 (currently 212-736-5000), the number for the

Hotel Pennsylvania The Hotel Pennsylvania was a historic hotel at 401 Seventh Avenue (15 Penn Plaza) in Manhattan, across the street from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden in New York City. Opened in 1919, it was once the largest hotel in the world. ...

in Midtown. The hotel claims that it is the oldest telephone number used continuously in New York City. This claim is disputed, but PEnnsylvania 6-5000 did appear in a 1940 Glenn Miller Orchestra song title. The scarcity of available telephone numbers in area code 212, combined with it being the city's original area code, result in the 212 area code being considered prestigious by some Manhattan residents. Businesses now sell telephone numbers with 212 area codes, though it is uncertain whether the customer or the

telephone company A telephone company, also known as a telco, telephone service provider, or telecommunications operator, is a kind of communications service provider (CSP), more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunicat ...

is the legal owner of a phone number. During August 2010, AT&T reported that there are no new numbers available in the 212 area code. Several years before then, new

landline A landline (land line, land-line, main line, home phone, fixed-line, and wireline) is a telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber telephone line for transmission, as distinguished from a mobile cellular network, which uses ...

s in Manhattan started to be assigned numbers in 917 (or 646). In addition, the Inwood section in far northern Manhattan is overlaid with area code 347, which also began as a cellphone area code. Those who now get a 212 area code must rely on luck of the draw when they establish their service or use websites where they can purchase a telephone number with the area code which they can

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

to their landline or

cellphone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...

service.

References

External links

North American Numbering Plan Administration

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090708194658/http://www.areacodedownload.com/212/index.html List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload.com, 212 Area Code
212 Area Code Information

Interactive Map of Area Code 212
{{DEFAULTSORT:Area Code 212 212 212 Communications in New York City Telecommunications-related introductions in 1947 Telecommunications-related introductions in 1984 Manhattan

History

Marble Hill

Market reputation

See also

References

External links