Area code 856 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 southwestern part of the U.S. state of

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

. The numbering plan area (NPA) includes the

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, Cherry Hill, and Vineland areas, as well as a small part of Willingboro Township, and the western part of

Burlington County Burlington County is a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The county is the largest by area in New Jersey. Its county seat is Mount Holly.

. 856 is essentially coextensive with the New Jersey side of the

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metropolitan area. The area code was created in 1999 in a split of

area code 609 Area codes 609 and 640 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the central part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The numbering plan area includes the cities of Trenton, Princeton, Ewing, Hamilton, and southe ...

History

The entire state of New Jersey was assigned area code 201 in the first configuration of the North American Numbering plan in 1947.1951: First Direct-Dial Transcontinental Telephone Call

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, accessed May 12, 2007. In 1958, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) divided the state into two numbering plan areas, restricting the use of 201 to the northern part, while the southern portion of the state received

. With the increasing demand for telephone numbers by businesses, increased used of fax machines,

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 acknowl ...

s and cell phones, area code 609 exhausted its numbering capacity.Breidenbaugh, R.C
Geographic Split of 609 (New Jersey) NPA; addition of 856 NPA. May 1999 NXX updates
NANPA Planning Letter dated May 5, 1999. Accessed July 4, 2007. Area code 856 was announced by Bell Atlantic in March 1999, and was approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities shortly thereafter. The new area code came into effect on June 12, 1999. For the following five months, ending November 13, 1999, permissive dialing was allowed, with calls completed even if only seven digits were dialed. Prior to October 2021, area code 856 had telephone numbers assigned for the central office code 988. In 2020, ''988'' was designated nationwide as a dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which created a conflict for exchanges that permit seven-digit dialing. This area code was therefore scheduled to transition to ten-digit dialing by October 24, 2021.

References

External links

List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload.com, 856 Area Code
{{DEFAULTSORT:Area Code 856 856 856 Burlington County, New Jersey Camden County, New Jersey Cumberland County, New Jersey Gloucester County, New Jersey

History

See also

References

External links