Area code stigma

"A small, highly religious town in southwest Louisiana has finally gained the right to change their 666 area code, which they consider a stigma.
For 40 years the town of Reeves, Louisiana, has battled to change the phone prefix, but has failed at least four times, Mayor Scott Walker told The Associated Press. But beginning this month, residents and businesses can apply to change their area code from 666 to 749."

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Fair enough, and not as silly as changing a Moscow 666 bus route to 616 (as far i can tell, the real biblical number of the beast).

 

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That article and your post title are both in error. That was not their AREA CODE, it was just the local exchange prefix. Interesting how some people don't seem to know the difference.

 

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<off topic>

Hum,
tnx for the correction, but the term is used to mean telephone area code were i live, and it is quite clear that that is what they meant in the article.

</off topic>

 

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Oh, really? Where do you live?

Area codes cover fairly large areas (thus the name) in many states. For example, the entire state of Louisianna only has five of them: 225, 318, 337, 504, and 985.

There are exceptions, of course where one or two area codes might be used for a VERY large city but that IS an exception rather than the rule.

Here's the real breakdown of a 10-digit phone number anywhere in the U.S. :

xxx (Area code) - yyy (exchange number) - zzzz ( subscriber number).

So my correction was completely valid - and I'm still amazed that some people don't understand that. :shrug:

 

Hum,
Yes i realised that now, but i dont live in the US.
It is a trivial point, but, some countries just have a xxx (Area code) - zzzz ( subscriber number).

 

Yes, I thought that might be the case.

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The reason it's like that in some countries is that the total population isn't high enough to need the extra three digits. With the exception of some special excluded numbers, your 7-digit scheme is good for about one million people. But beyond that, something else (like an additional city code) HAS to happen.