Area code 813 is an

area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, rea ...

in the

North American Numbering Plan The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1 and has the international callin ...

(NANP) for the city of

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, and surrounding areas such as

Zephyrhills Zephyrhills is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. The population was counted at 17,194 in the 2020 census. It is a suburb of the Tampa Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area. Zephyrhills is also known as the headquarters of the Zephyrhil ...

and

Oldsmar Oldsmar is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 13,591. The Oldsmar name dates to April 12, 1916 when automobile pioneer Ransom E. Olds purchased of land by the northern part of Ta ...

. Due to complete exhaustion of central office prefixes in area code 813, Area code 656 came in service on February 22, 2022, being overlaid with 813.

Service area

Area codes 656/813 is assigned to a numbering plan area (NPA) that comprises all of Hillsborough County, the city of

Pinellas County Pinellas County (, ) is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 959,107. The county is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg– Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical ...

, and the central and southeastern portions of

Pasco County Pasco County is located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. According to the 2020 census, the population was 561,691. Its county seat is Dade City, and its largest city is Zephyrhills. The county is named after Samuel Pasco ...

. The northeastern portion of Pasco County has

area code 352 Area code 352 is a NANPA telephone dialing area around Ocala, Florida. It was split from area code 904 in 1995. It includes all of Dixie, Gilchrist, Levy, Marion, Citrus, Sumter, Lake (with the exception of Montverde, Florida), and Hernando c ...

, while the western portion uses

area code 727 Area code 727 covers Pinellas County, Florida (including St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and Pinellas Park, among many other municipalities, but excluding the majority of Oldsmar), and the western third of Pasco County (including Port Richey, New ...

History

Area code 813 became

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

's second area code in 1953, when numbering plan area 305, which originally comprised all of the State of Florida, was split. The new number plan area stretched along the Gulf Coast from

Collier County Collier County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 375,752; an increase of 16.9% since the 2010 United States Census. Its county seat is East Naples, where the county offices were moved from E ...

and included the cities of

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...

Fort Myers Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...

, and Lakeland. On March 3, 1996, thirteen counties south and east of Hillsborough County, from

Manatee County Manatee County is a county in the Central Florida portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 US Census, the population was 399,710. Manatee County is part of the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its county s ...

to Collier County, split from the numbering plan area 813 after 39 years in the coverage area and were assigned

area code 941 Area code 941 is an area code in Florida. Introduced on March 3, 1996, it includes the counties of Manatee, Sarasota, and Charlotte, areas along the Sun Coast of southwestern Florida, USA. It is the area code for North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, F ...

. Although the 1996 split was intended to be a long-term solution, within only two years, 813 was close to exhaustion again because of the rapid growth of telephone service in the

Tampa Bay area The Tampa Bay area is a major populated area surrounding Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 18th largest metropolitan area in the United St ...

and the proliferation of cell phones and pagers. The

Florida Public Service Commission The Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) regulates investor-owned electric, natural gas, and water and wastewater utilities. The FPSC facilitates competitive markets in the telecommunications industry, has authority over intercarrier disputes ...

decided to assign

as another area code for the region. It was originally planned to be an

overlay Overlay may refer to: Computers *Overlay network, a computer network which is built on top of another network *Hardware overlay, one type of video overlay that uses memory dedicated to the application *Another term for exec, replacing one process ...

on 813. However, overlays were still a new concept, and the mixing of area codes in the same region, and the resulting requirement for

ten-digit dialing Ten-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure in the countries and territories that are members of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It is the practice of including the area code of a telephone number when dialing to initiate a telep ...

, met considerable resistance. As a result, the area of most of

(except Oldsmar) and western

were split off on February 1, 1999 and received area code 727. Oldsmar kept area code 813 despite being in Pinellas. Oldsmar was a tributary service area to the Tampa area, and tributary routes were in general not cut across NPA boundaries. Oldsmar is also located on the Pinellas/Hillsborough line, and was the only local exchange that was a local call to both cities. Most of the dialup Internet access numbers and alarm system reporting numbers in Tampa and St. Petersburg were located in Oldsmar. GTE and the

wanted to spare alarm companies and ISPs the cost of reprogramming and replacing systems that could not handle 10 digit dialing. Available numbers for area code 813 are expected to be exhausted during the third quarter of 2022. As a result, the North American Numbering Plan Administrator proposed an "all services overlay", which was approved by the

on March 31, 2020. The new area code 656 is scheduled for initiation of service in mid-to-late February 2022, once all available central office prefixes of 813 have been assigned.Tampa-Hillsborough to get a new area code. Say hello to the 656.

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single y ...

, May 8, 2020. Retrieved, May 8, 2020. This requires

within the numbering plan area, with recorded messages passed on to callers dialling the old method.

References

External links

Florida's Area Code History
{{coord missing, Tampa Bay

813 Events By place Byzantine Empire * June 22 – Battle of Versinikia: The Bulgars, led by Krum, ruler (''khan'') of the Bulgarian Empire, defeat Emperor Michael I near Edirne (modern Turkey). The Byzantine army (26,000 men) is d ...

Telecommunications-related introductions in 1953 1953 establishments in Florida

Service area

History

See also

References

External links