Area code 318 is a telephone

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, re ...

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 the northern and central parts of the U.S. state of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

. The area code was created in 1957 in a split of Louisiana's original

area code 504 Area code 504 is a telephone area code that covers greater New Orleans, Louisiana. Besides New Orleans itself (Orleans Parish), it includes all of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes and most of Jefferson Parish. 504 was one of the original ...

. Originally, it covered nearly all of the state west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

, stretching from the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United S ...

north to the border with

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the ...

. In 1999, the southern half of the "original" 318, including Lafayette and Lake Charles, became area code 337. Further relief will likely be required by 2025 (likely with Louisiana's first overlay), as 318 is expected to exhaust by early 2026.

Service area

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandr ...

* Bastrop * Bossier City * Boyce * Bunkie * Dixie Inn * Ferriday * Farmerville *

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the '' Iliad'' and the '' Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of ...

* Jonesboro *

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market t ...

Many Many may refer to: * grammatically plural in number *an English quantifier used with count nouns indicating a large but indefinite number of; at any rate, more than a few ;Place names * Many, Moselle, a commune of the Moselle department in Franc ...

* Marksville *

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of ...

* Monroe * Natchitoches * Rayville *

Ruston Ruston may refer to: Place names ;United States * Ruston, Louisiana * Ruston, Washington ;United Kingdom * East Ruston, Norfolk, England * Ruston, North Yorkshire, England * Ruston Parva, East Riding of Yorkshire, England Companies * Ruston (engi ...

* Rosefield *

Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers ...

Sarepta Sarepta (near modern Sarafand, Lebanon) was a Phoenician city on the Mediterranean coast between Sidon and Tyre, also known biblically as Zarephath. It became a bishopric, which faded, and remains a double (Latin and Maronite) Catholic titula ...

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

Simmesport Simmesport is a town in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,161 at the 2010 census. It is the northernmost town on the Atchafalaya River, located near the Old River which connects the Red and Atchafalaya rivers wi ...

* Springhill * Tallulah * Vidalia * Waterproof *

West Monroe West Monroe is a city in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is situated on the Ouachita River, across from the neighboring city of Monroe. The two cities are often referred to as the Twin Cities of northeast Louisiana. Its populati ...

* Winnfield * Winnsboro

Prior use

During the initial trials of

direct distance dialing Direct distance dialing (DDD) is a telecommunication service feature in North America by which a caller may, without operator assistance, call any other user outside the local calling area. Direct dialing by subscribers typically requires extra d ...

in 1951, the code 318 had been temporarily assigned as a pseudo area code for

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

and San Francisco had separate toll switches, so calls had to be routed accordingly depending on the final destination. As the telephone equipment used at the time handled only three-digit translation, the temporary use of an area code, 318, was required to distinguish between the two Bay Area cities. Area code 318 temporarily was used to specify San Francisco and areas north of the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco P ...

, while calls with destinations in Oakland or the East Bay used area code 415. When the electromechanical Card-Translator box became available by 1953, translations using six digits were possible; the 318 code no longer was required. The entire

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

returned to using area code 415; in 1991, 510 split off from 415; by 2015, area code 628 was added as an overlay.

References

External links

NANPA: Louisiana area code map
{{coord missing, Louisiana Telecommunications-related introductions in 1957

318 Year 318 ( CCCXVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Licinianus and Crispus (or, less frequently, year 1071 ''Ab ur ...

Shreveport, Louisiana

Service area

Prior use

See also

References

External links