Area code 912 is a telephone

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 an integrated 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, World Numbering Zone ...

(NANP) for the southeastern part of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. The numbering plan area contains

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

, Richmond Hill, Hinesville, Vidalia, Metter, Reidsville, Homerville, Waycross, Brunswick, Folkston, Douglas, Statesboro, Ludowici, Jesup and Kingsland. The area code was created in 1954 in an

area code split In telecommunications, an area code split is the practice of introducing a new telephone area code by geographically dividing an existing numbering plan area (NPA), and assigning area codes to the resulting divisions, but retaining the existing a ...

from

area code 404 Area code 404 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for Atlanta, Georgia and its closest suburbs. This comprises roughly the area encircled by Interstate 285. It is an enclave area code, surrounded by area code 770 ...

, which had been assigned to the entire state in 1947. In May 2025, the Georgia Public Service Commision announced the future conversion of the NPA into an

overlay complex In telecommunications, an area code overlay complex is a telephone numbering plan that assigns multiple area codes to the same geographic numbering plan area (NPA). Area code overlays are implemented in territories of the North American Numbe ...

with new area code 565 in relief of anticipated central office code exhaustion by 2028.

History

In 1947, when the

American Telephone and Telegraph Company AT&T Corporation, an abbreviation for its former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was an American telecommunications company that provided voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to busi ...

(AT&T) divided North America into numbering plan areas (NPAs) for the first nationwide

telephone numbering plan 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, reach ...

, the state of Georgia received only one area code, 404, for the entire state. The city of Atlanta operated one of the eight Regional Centers in the nationwide telephone toll routing system. On July 1, 1954, the state was divided into two numbering plan areas. The area from Macon southward, including Savannah and Albany, received area code 912. Area code 404 was reduced to the northern half of the state, from the

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

and

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

borders as far south as Columbus and Augusta. Despite the presence of Savannah, Albany and Macon, the southern half of Georgia is not nearly as densely populated as the north. As a result, 912 remained the sole area code for south Georgia for 46 years. In contrast, north Georgia went from one numbering plan area to three during the 1990s, plus an overlay for the Atlanta area. By the end of the 1990s, 912 was on the brink of exhaustion due to the proliferation of cell phones and pagers, especially in Savannah, Macon, and Albany. On August 1, 2000, area code 912 was reduced in size in a three-way split to permit more central office codes in the southern half of the state. Savannah and the eastern portion retained 912. The western portion, centered on Albany, was assigned

area code 229 Area code 229 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The numbering plan area includes the cities of Albany, Georgia, Albany, Valdosta, Georgia, Va ...

, while the northern portion, centered on Macon, received

area code 478 Area code 478 is a telephone area code serving part of the state of Georgia, in the United States. It covers Macon and central Georgia ( Warner Robins, Swainsboro, Wadley, Milledgeville, Hawkinsville, Eastman, Cochran, Dublin, Perry). It w ...

. Permissive dialing of 912 continued across southern Georgia until August 1, 2001. Prior to October 2021, area code 912 had telephone numbers assigned for the

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

988. In 2020, ''988'' was designated nationwide as a dialing code for the

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the United States, or Suicide Crisis Helpline in Canada, and formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, is a suicide prevention and crisis help line to a network of a large number of crisis ce ...

, which created a conflict for exchanges that permit

seven-digit dialing Seven-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure customary in some territories of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for dialing telephone numbers in the same numbering plan area (NPA). NANP telephone numbers consist of ten digits, of wh ...

. This area code was therefore scheduled to transition to

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

by October 24, 2021. NANPA projections of October 2022 suggested that the coastal Georgia NPA will require exhaustion relief around 2027. An

with 912 and area code 565 was approved in May 2025.https://psc.ga.gov/search/facts-document/?documentId=222762

Service area

Numbering plan area 912 includes the counties of Appling, Atkinson,

Bacon Bacon is a type of Curing (food preservation), salt-cured pork made from various cuts of meat, cuts, typically the pork belly, belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central in ...

, Brantley, Bryan, Bulloch, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Clinch,

Coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

, Echols (part with

), Effingham, Emanuel (part with

), Evans, Glynn, Jeff Davis,

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

Long Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...

, McIntosh, Montgomery, Pierce, Screven, Tattnall, Telfair (part with

), Toombs, Treutlen,

Ware WARE (1250 AM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting a classic hits format. Licensed to Ware, Massachusetts, United States, the station serves the Springfield radio market. The station is currently owned by Success Signal Broadcasting ...

, Wayne, and Wheeler.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:912 912 912

History

Service area

See also

References

External links