Telephone number
A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or to a wireless electronic telephony device, such as a radio telephone or a mobile telephone, or to other devices f ...
s in
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
are assigned under 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).
Prior to March 1, 1996, Puerto Rico was one of many Caribbean islands served by
area code 809
Area codes 809, 829, and 849 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Dominican Republic. As all NANP members, the Dominican Republic uses country code ''1'', and has similar dialing procedures for dialing the ...
. On that date Puerto Rico was assigned the new
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 ...
787 (with the
mnemonic
A mnemonic ( ) device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory for better understanding.
Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and imag ...
PUR or PTR).
Permissive dialing
In North America, permissive dialing is the ability to make phone calls in an area subject to a newly introduced area code by using both the new and preexisting dialing methods.
When an area is given a new area code under a split plan, the area's ...
of 809 ended January 31, 1997.
Within only four years, 787 was already on the brink of exhaustion due to the proliferation of cell phones and dial-up Internet connections. To solve the problem, 787 was
overlaid with area code 939 in or about September 2001, with
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 ...
required for all calls. A split had been ruled out in order to spare Puerto Ricans the expense and burden of changing their numbers for the second time in a decade, the island's extremely dense population, and the lack of a suitable boundary for a split. 939 is primarily used for cell phones.
See also
*
List of NANP area codes
The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) divides the territories of its members into geographic numbering plan areas (NPAs). Each NPA is identified by one or more numbering plan area codes (''NPA codes'', or ''area codes''), consisting of three di ...
*
Area codes in the Caribbean The integration of the Caribbean telephone networks into the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) began with the assignment of area codes in the Caribbean in 1958, when area code 809 was designated for Bermuda and any other potential participant isl ...
References
External links
List of exchanges in 787 Area Code
Telecommunications in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
Area codes in the Caribbean
Telephone numbers
A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or to a wireless electronic telephony device, such as a radio telephone or a mobile telephone, or to other devices f ...
{{PuertoRico-stub