Area code 242 is the 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 ...
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 callin ...
(NANP) for
The Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
. Area code 242 translates to the letter sequence ''BHA'' on an alpha-numeric keypad. The numbering plan area (NPA) was created in a split of
area code 809
Area codes 809, 829, and 849 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Dominican Republic. As all NANP members, the Dominican Republic uses country code ''1'', and has similar dialing procedures for dialing the ...
, which was originally assigned to the Bahamas and many of the Caribbean islands. A
permissive dialing
In North America, permissive dialing is the ability to make phone calls in an area subject to a newly introduced area code by using both the new and preexisting dialing methods.
When an area is given a new area code under a split plan, the area's ...
period was in effect from October 1, 1996, to March 31, 1997.
When in The Bahamas, only the seven-digit number is required for local calls, but to call the Bahamas from other countries within the North American Numbering Plan, e.g., the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, the local number is prefixed with ''1'' and ''242''.
See also
*
List of NANP area codes
*
Area codes in the Caribbean The integration of the Caribbean telephone networks into the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) began with the assignment of area codes in the Caribbean in 1958, when area code 809 was designated for Bermuda and any other potential participant isl ...
External links
List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload.com, 242 Area Code
242
Communications in the Bahamas
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