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Area codes 704 and 980

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North Carolina area codes.

Area codes 704 and 980 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for Charlotte and all or part of 12 surrounding counties in south-central North Carolina. Other major cities in the service area are Gastonia, Kannapolis, Concord, Mooresville, Salisbury, Statesville, and Shelby. The South Carolina side of the Charlotte metropolitan area is part of area codes 803 and 839.

The main area code, 704, was one of the original 86 codes assigned by AT&T for numbering plan areas (NPA) in 1947. It originally served the entire state of North Carolina. In 1954, Winston-Salem and points east were split off as area code 919. 704 was reduced to the western third of the state, from Charlotte through the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Tennessee border.

This configuration remained in place for the next 44 years. Despite explosive growth in Charlotte, the state's largest city, the western third of the state was not as densely populated as the eastern two-thirds, which grew from having one area code to four during the 1990s. By the mid-1990s, Charlotte's rapid growth and the ensuing demand for telephone lines made a split inevitable.

In 1998, most of the western portion of the old 704 territory, including the Foothills and Blue Ridge, were split off to create area code 828, restricting 704 to the Charlotte area.

The creation of 828 was intended as a long-term solution. Within two years, however, 704 was close to exhaustion once again due to Charlotte's continued growth, as well as the proliferation of cell phones and pagers. The number supply was further limited because the Charlotte LATA spills into portions of Charlotte's suburbs in South Carolina, meaning several numbers in 803 were not available for use.

To solve the problem, area code 980 was created as the state's first overlay plan. Permissive dialing with only seven digits was still possible between May 1, 2000 and March 15, 2001, after which, ten-digit dialing was mandatory.[1][2]

Even with the Charlotte area's continued growth, 704/980 is nowhere near exhaustion. Under the most recent projections, Charlotte will not need another area code until early 2048.[3]

Years after the introduction of mobile number portability, a number of cell phone customers on the South Carolina side of the Charlotte area have 704 numbers.

Counties served

Cities and towns

See also

References

  1. ^ "Planning Letter 229: NPA 980 To Overlay NPA 704 (North Carolina)" (PDF). North American Numbering Plan Administration. North American Numbering Plan Administration. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  2. ^ "Planning Letter 258: Revised Mandatory Dialing Date for NPA 704 (North Carolina)" (PDF). North American Numbering Plan Administration. North American Numbering Plan Administration. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  3. ^ https://nationalnanpa.com/reports/2019-2_NPA_Exhaust_Projections_Final.pdf
North Carolina area codes: 252, 336/743, 704/980, 828, 910/472, 919/984
North: 336 / 743
West: 828 704 / 980 East: 910
South: 803/839, 843/854
South Carolina area codes: 803/839, 843/854, 864/821
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