THE GAME AND AREA CODES

[Rick Rose 2.0]

I know this maybe a silly post but while listening to the Game but they often refer to people that text comments as from the 404, 770 and 678. Area codes really dont have boundries or sections of town in this area anymore. With cell phones especially you can have any of the 3 area codes. It just sounds like people new to town are all over the station

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

When we get a call from Area Code 470 then you will know they are from all over town. :

 

[MarcB]

HOT 93.7 the hip-hop station in Hartford, CT does this. They'll mention "so and so from the 860, 203 checking in on Facebook and Twitter and on the request line." 6 counties in Connecticut are 860, the other 2 counties are 203. Plus if you have a good radio you can get HOT in parts of Western Massachusetts and they'll mention 413 checking in as well.

 

[Kent]

After the area codes in Arizona got divided up but before Phoenix was split three ways, a jock on KKFR used to refer to his listeners "hangin' in the 602." It really never made much sense to me. No one referred to the Valley of the Sun as "the 602" other than a few people on KKFR. Yeah, I was a little above the target age for KKFR, but my friends' kids never used the term either. It also seemed a little ridiculous to use that term when you consider, if the jock moved to Chicago, would he thank his friends "hangin' in the 312, the 847, the 630, the 219, the 815, the 708 and the 778?"

 

[KeithE4]

It also seemed a little ridiculous to use that term when you consider, if the jock moved to Chicago, would he thank his friends "hangin' in the 312, the 847, the 630, the 219, the 815, the 708 and the 778?"

Don't forget "the 224," "the 331," "the 773," and "the 872." ;D

 

[the golden boy]

I'm sure it happens a lot in areas where there are numerous area codes in a station's coverage area.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

For those of you in other parts of the country, you may not realize the humor that was thrown into this thread right up front. 770, 404 and 678 are not three different geographical areas. You could live in Atlanta and have neighbors living in the same block have differing Area Codes. 770, 404 and 678 are all mingled together. For the announce to indicate that calls are coming from callers with these different Area Codes DOES NOT mean calls are coming in from a wide geographical area.

Now, in the last couple of years it became so crowded that a FOURTH area code was dumped into this same contiguous geography: 470.

Years ago some dominant member of the state's Public Service Commission thought it would be good for business if the local (non-toll) calling area was made a large a possible. I think I read that Atlanta has the largest non-toll-call calling area of any metro area in the country.... an area that is now so thickly populated that it takes 4 area codes to cover the number of phones involved.

Now if some one in Little Rock said he was getting calls from people in four different Area Codes... that would be a WOW! moment. In Atlanta... it's a HO-HUM moment.... and a bit of our twisted local humor.

 

[Kent]

Atlanta has the largest local calling area in the nation. It even stretches into one or two Alabama counties. The second and third largest local calling areas, by the way, are Oklahoma City and Tulsa, OK.

I remember them getting rid of area code boundaries several years ago and going to an overlay. I seem to remember they initially had 404 for the central city and 770 for the suburbs, like Smyrna and Marietta.

Of course, even before they got rid of the boundaries, I can't imagine people in the city referring to themselves as "in the 404." That certainly wasn't the case in Phoenix! A sports station could have made the same joke when the area code boundaries existed. It would've been a slam on the hip-hop and rhythmic stations that used the area code references when no one else did.

 

[secondchoice]

To really confuse Atlanta phone users is the 706 area code.* Part of 706 is included in the Atlanta toll free. Most of 706 (Augusta, Columbus GA) is a toll call from Atlanta, requiring a 1 prefix from a "wired" office phone. I live in the "Atlanta" part of 706. You can call my home phone # from Atlanta with out having to dial 1. Just punch in 706 XXX XXXX. If you dial 1 then 706 XXX XXXX you get a message from the phone company. When I was looking for a job several years ago this really hurt me when the would be Atlanta employer out of habit would automatically add the 1 prefix my phone number and got the "not a valid number" recording. That really impressed the would be employer! That is how I ended up in telecom. They understood what was going on with my phone number and could call me in for an interview.

Of course cell phones with the 10 digit dialing built in don't get confused. I use my cell # with a 404 prefix when dealing with businesses and people in Atlanta. During the 9 11 grounding of US airlines, a relative of mine ended up stranded at the Atlanta Airport. She had to use the pay phone at the airport because her cell phone was in her checked bag which Delta saw fit to put on another plane which was grounded in New Orleans. She dialed 1 and my phone # (like the instructions on the pay phone said) and got the recording. Being resourceful, she called my Aunt in PA and my Aunt called my parents who called me.

This just in: the 706 area code has been "overlaid" with the 762 area code. My next door neighbor could be in another area code!!

 

[BarryATL]

I thought I was the only one that knew about the oddities dialing in the Atlanta calling area. The two exchanges that are in AL are also dialed with just 10 digits from Atlanta. They used to be 205, then 334 area codes. I am not sure what they are now.

I have always felt sorry for the 706 folks that were in the Atlanta calling area. You can thank your local city/county government. The local leaders petitioned the PSC to put those communities in the 706. Originally, everything that was coming into the Atlanta local dialing area was going to be 770, but certain local governments said they did not want to be associated with metro Atlanta. They wanted to be associated with the more rural 706. Of course, they had no education on dialing, the future of cell phones, etc.

 

[secondchoice]

I have always felt sorry for the 706 folks that were in the Atlanta calling area. You can thank your local city/county government. The local leaders petitioned the PSC to put those communities in the 706. Originally, everything that was coming into the Atlanta local dialing area was going to be 770, but certain local governments said they did not want to be associated with metro Atlanta. They wanted to be associated with the more rural 706. Of course, they had no education on dialing, the future of cell phones, etc.

If that was the only dumb thing they did it would be OK!

Don't get me started on the local elected officials. IMHO a really good forensic audit on a couple of these local governments would make the news with waste or worse.

 

[trusty]

This just in: the 706 area code has been "overlaid" with the 762 area code. My next door neighbor could be in another area code!!

I have to assume it's the 762 that is east of the Rockies. ;D

 

[qbot101]

I thought I was the only one that knew about the oddities dialing in the Atlanta calling area.  The two exchanges that are in AL are also dialed with just 10 digits from Atlanta.  They used to be 205, then 334 area codes.  I am not sure what they are now.

I have always felt sorry for the 706 folks that were in the Atlanta calling area.  You can thank your local city/county government.  The local leaders petitioned the PSC to put those communities in the 706.  Originally, everything that was coming into the Atlanta local dialing area was going to be 770, but certain local governments said they did not want to be associated with metro Atlanta.  They wanted to be associated with the more rural 706.  Of course, they had no education on dialing, the future of cell phones, etc.

Actually, the 2 Alabama exchanges, Fruithurst and Ranburne, were changed from 205 to 256... and the 256 area code has an overlay, 938 It was hilarious getting the error message when I inserted the 1 before the number.

The 334 area is mostly central and southeast Alabama (i.e. Auburn, Montgomery, and Dothan). Mobile was part of 334, but was split off into 251.

I have a T-mobile phone which has had too many issues with wrong numbers and spam... as soon as the 762 area code was available, I immediately jumped on it.

I didn't know how good I had it in Atlanta until I came to Tallahassee... I learned the hard way that all numbers within an area code were not local and local calling stops at the state line ... 10 digit dialing is optional now (but pointless)

Time for me to get the Area Codes song by Ludacris...

 

[RadioFan2J3]

In addition, you can't tell from just looking at the area code if a number is local: For example, not all parts of 703/571 are considered local to some parts of the Maryland suburbs.

Not all 703 and 571 exchanges are even a local call from 202 either, unless something has changed in the last few years.

If I remember correctly, 703 north of the Occoquan River is local from 202 and local to 202, but south of the Occoquan, toll charge between 703/571 and 202.

 

[KeithE4]

In addition, you can't tell from just looking at the area code if a number is local: For example, not all parts of 703/571 are considered local to some parts of the Maryland suburbs.

Not all 703 and 571 exchanges are even a local call from 202 either, unless something has changed in the last few years.

If I remember correctly, 703 north of the Occoquan River is local from 202 and local to 202, but south of the Occoquan, toll charge between 703/571 and 202.

Which is why you get a flat-rate long-distance plan with unlimited calling, if available. Or get a cellphone. I haven't been charged for a long-distance call since 2006. ;D

 

[RadioFan2J3]

Which is why you get a flat-rate long-distance plan with unlimited calling, if available. Or get a cellphone. I haven't been charged for a long-distance call since 2006. ;D

I left Prince William County in 2006, but when we were living in PWC, our Verizon home line did indeed have unlimited US toll free calling. Unfortunately, my office in the District did not have toll free dialing and a call from the office to my house was indeed a toll call and I would have to pay for it. Caller ID and a hang-up would signal the house to call me back.

Still is today, no unlimited US dialing, as I understand it, and I have Fairfax MagicJack and Vonage numbers so calls to my lines and originating in our private network aren’t registered as toll calls.

Very few dialing plans, even those via cell phone companies, offer toll free dialing worldwide, although Vonage is making a stab at it, with some 70 countries on their no extra charge list.