New Area Code for Northeast Penna Susquehanna, Lackawanna, Luzerne Counties Affected

Telephone number growth in Pennsylvania caused a geographic split of the 717 area code and the introduction of a new 570 area code. The north/northeastern portion of the old 717 area code - the section north of Dauphin County - received the new 570 area code. Counties in this section include Susquehanna, Lackawanna, and Luzerne Counties.

The new 570 area code went into affect at 12:01 am EST on December 5. There will be a four-month permissive dialing period during which either the 717 or the 570 area code will be acceptable. This permissive dialing period will end at 12:01 am EST on April 8, 1999.

The change in area codes will not affect rates or local calling areas.

Callers in the 570 area code who want to call a number in the 717 area code should dial 1 + 717 + 7-digit number for local and toll calls.

Area codes are administered by the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) which was invented in 1947 by AT&T and Bell Laboratories. There are 800 possible combinations of area codes, though some are reserved for special purposes.

Each area code has a supply of 792 central office codes or prefixes. (For example, in the 607 area code 687, 625, and 748 are central office codes. The final four digits of a phone number are called the line number.)

Each year, NANPA prepares an annual survey called the Central Office Code Utilization Survey (COCUS) which projects when each existing area code will exhaust its supply of 792 central office codes (prefixes). According to the 1998 COCUS, New York's 607 area code will exhaust in the year 2007. According to NANP Planning Letter PL-NANP-136 dated July 31, 1998, "both the new 570 and the old 717 (area codes) are forecasted to exhaust in approximately five to six years."

The North American Numbering Plan is administered by Lockheed Martin IMS.


©1998 Apalachin Community Press