Area codes 508 and 774 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, rea ...

s in the

North American Numbering Plan The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is an integrated 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, World Numbering Zone ...

(NANP) for the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. The numbering plan area comprises south-central and most of southeastern Massachusetts (

LATA Latha (Hindi: लता, Kannada: ಲತಾ) is a Hindu Indian female given name, which means "creeper" and "Durga". Latha may refer to: Notable people named Lata *Lata Mangeshkar (1929–2022), Indian singer. *Lata Bhatt (born 1954), Indian sin ...

128). It includes

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

, Outer south and southwest

Greater Boston Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston, the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England, and its surrounding areas, home to 4,941,632. The most s ...

(such as the

MetroWest MetroWest is a cluster of cities and towns lying west of Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financia ...

region), as well as Fall River,

New Bedford New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, New Bedford had a ...

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, lying just south of Cape Cod. It is known for being a popular, affluent summer colony, and includes the smaller peninsula Chappaquiddick Isla ...

, and

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island in the state of Massachusetts in the United States, about south of the Cape Cod peninsula. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck Island, Tuckernuck and Muskeget Island, Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and Co ...

History

Massachusetts was originally divided into two numbering plan areas, when AT&T published the configuration of the first nationwide

telephone numbering plan 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, reach ...

for

Operator Toll Dialing Operator Toll Dialing was a telephone call routing and toll-switching system for the Bell System and the independent telephone companies in the United States and Canada that paved the way for Direct Distance Dialing (DDD) by telephone service subsc ...

in 1947.

Area code 617 Area codes 617 and 857 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of Massachusetts, serving the city of Boston and several surrounding communities such as Brookline, Cambridge, Newton and Quincy. ...

was assigned to the eastern two-thirds of Massachusetts from roughly the western end of Worcester County to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, The Cape and Islands, and the South Coast, while the western part received

area code 413 Area code 413 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the western third of Massachusetts. It is the largest numbering plan area in the Commonwealth, and extends from the New York state line eastward into Worces ...

. Area code 508 was activated for service on July 16, 1988, in an

area code split In telecommunications, an area code split is the practice of introducing a new telephone area code by geographically dividing an existing numbering plan area (NPA), and assigning area codes to the resulting divisions, but retaining the existing a ...

of 617, with a semicircle around Boston retaining 617 and the central offices in the northern, western, and southern parts of the area being reassigned to area code 508. Permissive dialing of 617 and 508 continued until January 1, 1989. On September 1, 1997, numbering plan area 508 was split, whereby

area code 978 Area codes 978 and 351 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan for north central and most of northeastern Massachusetts. Area code 978 was created in an area code split of area code 508 on September 1, 1997. A permissi ...

was assigned to the northern part of the service area. Area code 774 was added to the 508 numbering plan area on May 2, 2001, forming an

overlay complex In telecommunications, an area code overlay complex is a telephone numbering plan that assigns multiple area codes to the same geographic numbering plan area (NPA). Area code overlays are implemented in territories of the North American Numbe ...

and making

ten-digit dialing Ten-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure in the countries and territories of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It is the practice of including the area code of a telephone number when Dialling (telephony), dialing to initiate a t ...

mandatory for all calls. Some mobile telephone numbers assigned in the 1990s in communities in the former northern half of 508 (now the 978 area code) kept the area code after the split. As of 2018, NPA 508/774 is projected to be exhausted by 2045.2018 October NANPA Exhaust Projections
/ref>

Service area

The numbering plan area of area codes 508 and 774 includes the southern parts of the regions of Worcester County and

, as well as

, and the South Coast. The major towns and cities are

Attleboro Attleboro is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It was once known as "The Jewelry Capital of the World" for its many jewelry manufacturers. According to the 2020 census, Attleboro had a population of 46,461. Attleboro is ...

, Barnstable, Bridgewater, Brockton, Dartmouth, Fall River,

Framingham Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a popula ...

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

, and

References

External links

Massachusetts Area Code Map
Mass. Department of Telecommunications and Cable {{DEFAULTSORT:Area Codes 508 And 774

508 __NOTOC__ Year 508 ( DVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Venantius and Celer (or, less frequently, year 1261 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomi ...

History

Service area

See also

References

External links