Area codes 803 and 839 are

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

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 central part of 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 ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. The numbering plan area (NPA) is anchored by the city of Columbia, the state capital. It also includes most of the South Carolina portions of the

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

and

Augusta, Georgia Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...

metropolitan areas. 839, an all-service overlay, was approved by the South Carolina Public Service Commission in 2019. Area code 803 is one of the original 86 area codes assigned in 1947, when it was assigned to serve the entire state. In 1995, the Upstate was split off into a separate numbering plan area with area code 864. Until then, South Carolina had been one of the most populated states with just one area code. While this was intended as a long-term solution, the rapid growth of telecommunication service in Columbia, the Charlotte suburbs, and the coastal region brought 803 back to the brink of exhaustion within two years. As a result, in 1998 the coastal region was assigned area code 843. In May 2020, area code 839 was added as an overlay for the 803-plan area. The new area code is used for new subscribers. This implementation made

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 in the numbering plan area as of April 2020. Previously, a permissive ten-digit dialing period began in late October 2019.

Service area

Major cities

* Aiken ''pop. 29,494'' * Columbia ''pop. 133,803'' * Rock Hill ''pop. 74,342'' *

Sumter Sumter may refer to: People Given name * Sumter S. Arnim (1904–1990), American dentist * Sumter de Leon Lowry Jr. (1893–1985), United States Army general Surname * Rowendy Sumter (born 1988), Curaçaoan footballer * Shavonda E. Sumt ...

''pop. 40,524''

Counties

* Richland *

* Kershaw * Fairfield * Lee * Clarendon * Orangeburg * Calhoun * Lexington * Aiken * Lancaster *

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

* Newberry * Barnwell *

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

* Edgefield

References

External links

*
List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload.com, 803 Area Code
{{coord, 33, 45, N, 80, 54, W, scale:2000000, display=title 803 803 Telecommunications-related introductions in 1947