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nThosenthree all-important numbers at the beginning of your phone number used to say something about where you live.
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nInlive in the 9-oh-9 (909) area code, well known to most Southern Californians asna distinctly un-cool, un-hip place to be. People in L.A. and the O.C.n(Orange County) often look down on the 9-0-9. n
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nBut,nweirdly enough, some people who live very near me have another areancode, 951. This is because, in a crowded urban area, there are sonmany people and so many phones, and so many fax machines and modems,nthat there aren’t enough usable phone numbers. In such a case, therenare “splits” and “overlays” of new area codes. n
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nMynown mother, who lives a block away from me, has two area codes: 909nfor her home phone and 951 for her cell.
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nDid you know that the entire state of Alaska has just one area code. So Insometimes like to point out that my mom has more area codes than thenentire state of Alaska! Here are some more states with just one areancode: Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, NewnMexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, WestnVirginia, and Wyoming.
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nAnothernthing to remember is that these days area codes DON’T necessarily tell us where people live. This is because, when people move, they often keep the samencell phone number. So people living in the VERY cool city of NewnYork, for example, might still have the un-cool 909 area code.
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nNowadays…
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nThenUnited States has 269 area codes plus some special area codes such as toll-free 800 and 888.
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nCanadanhas 26 area codes.
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nAnChallenge…
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nCannyou use math to figure out how many phone numbers there can be pernarea code? Remember, phone numbers cannot start with a zero or one.
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