Area codes 614 and 380 are 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 ...

s 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 all or part of four counties in central

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, surrounding and including the state capital of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

. Area code 614 is one of the original area codes assigned for Ohio in 1947, while area code 380 is an overlay code covering the same territory.

History

The first nationwide telephone numbering plan of 1947 divided Ohio into four numbering plan areas (NPAs), roughly forming a quadrant layout for telecommunication services in the state. Area code 614 was assigned to the southeastern quadrant, from Columbus to the Ohio River along the

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

border, stretching as far north as

Steubenville Steubenville is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Ohio River 33 miles west of Pittsburgh, it had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 census. The city's name is derived from Fort Steuben, a 1 ...

. Despite central Ohio's growth in the second half of the 20th century, this configuration remained in place for 51 years. In 1998, nearly all of the southern portion of the old 614 territory was split into the new

area code 740 Area codes 740 and 220 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the southeastern and central parts of Ohio. The numbering plan area (NPA) includes the cities of Athens, Belpre, Cadiz, Chillicothe, Circleville, ...

Ameritech AT&T Teleholdings, Inc., formerly known as Ameritech Corporation (and before that American Information Technologies Corporation), is an American telecommunications company that arose out of the 1984 AT&T divestiture. Ameritech was one of the sev ...

, at that time the predominant incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC), had proposed a split of 614 which generally would have seen Franklin,

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacen ...

and Marion counties retaining 614, with the rest of the Columbus suburbs following the rural portion of the old 614 into the new 740. A complaint before the

Public Utilities Commission of Ohio The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) is the public utilities commission of the U.S. state of Ohio, charged with the regulation of utility service providers such as those of electricity, natural gas, and telecommunications as well as rail ...

(PUCO) claiming unequal treatment of the suburban counties was brought by Granville attorney J. Drew McFarland, later joined by the Village of Granville,

Licking Licking is the action (philosophy), action of passing the tongue over a surface, typically either to deposit saliva onto the surface, or to collect liquid, food or minerals onto the tongue for ingestion, or to animal communication, communicate ...

and Fairfield counties and others, wishing for an overlay area code. The PUCO instead reduced the 614 footprint to Columbus itself (which is mostly in Franklin County, with portions spilling into Delaware and Fairfield counties) and Franklin County. A subsequent appeal made slight variations that allowed all of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

and Westerville to retain 614 (both cities are mostly in Franklin County, but spill into neighboring counties) and most of

Pickerington Pickerington is a city in Fairfield and Franklin counties in the central region of the U.S. state of Ohio. It was founded in 1815 as Jacksonville, named after Andrew Jackson. Pickerington was known as Jacksonville until 1827, when the citizens ...

(which is mostly in Fairfield County but does spill into Franklin) to remain in 614 as well. The case represented the first time nationally that an ILEC's plan was substantially modified by consumer action. The reconfigured 614 now comprised all of Franklin County and portions of Delaware, Fairfield and Union counties. With 614 reduced to be all but synonymous with Columbus, it appears on some T-shirt designs that use 614 as an abbreviation or short form to identify the city. In 2001, it was planned to overlay area code 614 with area code 380, in anticipation of exhaustion. However, the anticipated growth did not materialize and

number pooling Number pooling is a method of reallocating telephony numbering space in the North American Numbering Plan, primarily in growth areas in the United States. Instead of allocating blocks of ten thousand numbers to each carrier in each community, a bl ...

replaced the proposal. On January 14, 2015 the PUCO instructed the telecommunications industry to finally implement the new area code on February 27, 2016. Ten-digit local dialing has been required since January 30, 2016.

References

External links

{{Area code box , State = OH , This = area code 614/380 , N = 740 , S = 740 , E = 740 , W = 740, 937/326 Telecommunications-related introductions in 1947 614 614

History

See also

References

External links