Area code 710 is a special
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, rea ...
in the
North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It was reserved for the
federal government of the United States in 1983 for emergency services.
Since 1994, the area code has provided access for authorized personnel to the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) in the United States, and the Canadian local exchange carriers, and cellular/PCS networks. Previously, it was an area code in the AT&T Teletypewriter Exchange (TWX) for the northeastern part of the United States.
History
As of December 2006, it had only one working telephone number, 710-627-4387 (710-NCS-GETS) for the
Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) in the
National Communications System (NCS).
Teletypewriter Exchange
Area code 710 was one of three US area codes in the former
AT&T Teletypewriter Exchange (TWX) network, sold to
Western Union in 1969 and renamed as
Telex II
The telex network is a station-to-station switched network of teleprinters similar to a telephone network, using telegraph-grade connecting circuits for two-way text-based messages. Telex was a major method of sending written messages electroni ...
. It covered the US Northeast (New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, and West Virginia).
The original TWX area codes were
510
__NOTOC__
Year 510 ( DX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severinus without colleague (or, less frequently ...
in the United States and
610
__NOTOC__
Year 610 (Roman numerals, DCX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 610th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 610th year of the 1st ...
in Canada. The addition of 710 in the Northeast, 810 in the South (plus Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky) and 910 west of the Mississippi allowed each major city one or more local exchange prefixes in the special area code.
The U.S. TWX area codes (510, 710, 810, 910) were decommissioned in 1981. Canada moved its remaining 1 (610) numbers to
area code 600 in 1992.
Current usage
The area code is reserved for use by the United States Government. It is used in the
Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS), is intended for emergencies or crisis situations when the landline network is congested and the probability of completing a normal call is reduced. It provides alternate carrier routing, high probability of completion, trunk queuing and exemptions from network management controls.
A special access code of 12 digits is required for using the service. Upon dialing this phone number, a mechanical beep prompts the caller to enter the access code. If a correct code is entered, the caller is prompted to dial the destination number (
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, rea ...
+ number). If an access code is not entered at the beep, the call is redirected to a human operator who asks for the access code.
See also
*
List of NANP area codes
The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) divides the territories of its members into geographic numbering plan areas (NPAs). Each NPA is identified by one or more numbering plan area codes (''NPA codes'', or ''area codes''), consisting of three di ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Area Code 710
Disaster preparedness in the United States
710