Area codes 610, 484, and 835 are 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, reac ...

s 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 eastern and southeastern regions of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Mary ...

. The numbering plan area (NPA) includes regions to the west of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

and the cities

Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them: * Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California * Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County * Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in T ...

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital of ...

, and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling) ...

. It includes much of the

Delaware Valley The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Vall ...

, including almost all of Delaware County, most of the

Philadelphia Main Line The Philadelphia Main Line, known simply as the Main Line, is an informally delineated historical and social region of suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lying along the former Pennsylvania Railroad's once prestigious Main Line, it runs n ...

, and all of the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the nor ...

History

Area code 610 was created on January 8, 1994 as a split from numbering plan area 215, which had been the entire southeast quadrant of

since 1947.

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 both 215 and 610 continued until the morning of January 7, 1995. It was Pennsylvania's first new area code since the implementation of the area code system in 1947. Three exchanges which would have switched to 610 were instead switched to

717 __NOTOC__ Year 717 ( DCCXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 717 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar er ...

, the area code for most of the eastern half of the state outside of the lower Delaware and

s. They were 267 at Denver, 445 at Terre Hill, and 484 at Adamstown, with 267 being replaced with 717-336 because 717-267 was already in use at Chambersburg. These exchanges were all served by non-Bell telephone companies which sought to consolidate their eastern Pennsylvania customers into one area code, and would have had to change area codes anyway. This was intended as a long-term solution, but further growth in the region over the subsequent five years, and the proliferation of cell phones and pagers, spurred the introduction of area code 484 as an overlay for the 610 region on June 5, 1999, along with the introduction of mandatory

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 ...

. Area code 835 was intended as an additional overlay code for the 610 and 484 numbering plan area, as announced by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission in May 2000 and to be implemented in 2001. However, newly developed, more efficient

number pooling Number pooling is a method of reallocating telephony numbering space in the North American Numbering Plan, primarily in growth areas in the United States. Instead of allocating blocks of ten thousand numbers to each carrier in each community, a ...

measures were introduced instead, eliminating the immediate need for the new area code. The Commission formally withdrew plans for the new code on June 23, 2005, although the code remained reserved for later use within Pennsylvania if necessary. Area code 835 was eventually approved by the Public Utility Commission on December 2, 2021. Assignment of central office codes in the new area code began on September 2, 2022.NANPA Planning Letter PL-578
/ref> Area code 610 was the last area code assigned with the digit ''1'' in its middle position. When area codes were introduced in 1947, all numbers followed the pattern N0X or N1X (where the middle digit was either a zero or one). By 1994, area code 610 was the last remaining code in this group. The next new area codes to be assigned (334 in Alabama and 360 in Washington, both in 1995) were the first to break this rule.

Service area

;Counties: The numbering plan area comprises the following counties: *

Berks County Berks County ( Pennsylvania German: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading. The Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware River ...

- All but extreme western portions (in 717), extreme northern portions (in 570) and

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

area (served by the Pennsburg exchange in the 215/267 area code). *

Bucks County Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the English ...

- Northeastern portion served by the Coopersburg, Springtown, Riegelsville and Ferndale exchanges. * Chester County - All but the extreme western portion Gap_exchange.html"_;"title="Gap,_Pennsylvania.html"_;"title="hich_is_served_by_the_(717-442)_Gap,_Pennsylvania">Gap_exchange">Gap,_Pennsylvania.html"_;"title="hich_is_served_by_the_(717-442)_Gap,_Pennsylvania">Gap_exchange *_Delaware_County_-_All *Lancaster_County,_Pennsylvania.html" ;"title="Gap,_Pennsylvania">Gap_exchange.html" ;"title="Gap,_Pennsylvania.html" ;"title="hich is served by the (717-442) Gap_exchange">Gap,_Pennsylvania.html"_;"title="hich_is_served_by_the_(717-442)_Gap,_Pennsylvania">Gap_exchange *_Delaware_County_-_All *Lancaster_County,_Pennsylvania">Lancaster_County_-_Far_southeastern_portion_of_the_county_only,_centered_on_the_town_of_ Gap_exchange">Gap,_Pennsylvania.html"_;"title="hich_is_served_by_the_(717-442)_Gap,_Pennsylvania">Gap_exchange *_Delaware_County_-_All *Lancaster_County,_Pennsylvania">Lancaster_County_-_Far_southeastern_portion_of_the_county_only,_centered_on_the_town_of_Christiana,_Pennsylvania">Christiana._Rest_of_county_uses_the_717_area_code. *Lebanon_County,_Pennsylvania.html" ;"title="Christiana,_Pennsylvania.html" ;"title="Gap, Pennsylvania">Gap exchange">Gap,_Pennsylvania.html" ;"title="hich is served by the (717-442) Gap_exchange *_Delaware_County_-_All *Lancaster_County,_Pennsylvania">Lancaster_County_-_Far_southeastern_portion_of_the_county_only,_centered_on_the_town_of_Christiana,_Pennsylvania">Christiana._Rest_of_county_uses_the_717_area_code. *Lebanon_County,_Pennsylvania">Lebanon_County_-_ Gap_exchange *_Delaware_County_-_All *Lancaster_County,_Pennsylvania">Lancaster_County_-_Far_southeastern_portion_of_the_county_only,_centered_on_the_town_of_Christiana,_Pennsylvania">Christiana._Rest_of_county_uses_the_717_area_code. *Lebanon_County,_Pennsylvania">Lebanon_County_-_Newmanstown,_Pennsylvania">Newmanstown_is_the_only_Lebanon_County_municipality_to_use_610_as_its_area_code,_specifically_610-589-XXXX_(also_shared_with_Womelsdorf,_Berks_County). *Lehigh_County,_Pennsylvania.html" ;"title="Newmanstown,_Pennsylvania.html" ;"title="Gap, Pennsylvania">Gap exchange * Delaware County - All * Lancaster_County_-_Far_southeastern_portion_of_the_county_only,_centered_on_the_town_of_Christiana,_Pennsylvania">Christiana._Rest_of_county_uses_the_717_area_code. *Lebanon_County,_Pennsylvania">Lebanon_County_-_Newmanstown,_Pennsylvania">Newmanstown_is_the_only_Lebanon_County_municipality_to_use_610_as_its_area_code,_specifically_610-589-XXXX_(also_shared_with_Womelsdorf,_Berks_County). *Lehigh_County,_Pennsylvania">Lehigh_County_-_All_but_extreme_southwestern_portion,_served_by_the_ Lancaster_County_-_Far_southeastern_portion_of_the_county_only,_centered_on_the_town_of_Christiana,_Pennsylvania">Christiana._Rest_of_county_uses_the_717_area_code. *Lebanon_County,_Pennsylvania">Lebanon_County_-_Newmanstown,_Pennsylvania">Newmanstown_is_the_only_Lebanon_County_municipality_to_use_610_as_its_area_code,_specifically_610-589-XXXX_(also_shared_with_Womelsdorf,_Berks_County). *Lehigh_County,_Pennsylvania">Lehigh_County_-_All_but_extreme_southwestern_portion,_served_by_the_Pennsburg,_Pennsylvania">Pennsburg_exchange_in_the_215/267_overlay. *Montgomery_County,_Pennsylvania.html" ;"title="Pennsburg,_Pennsylvania.html" ;"title="Lancaster County, Pennsylvania">Lancaster County - Far southeastern portion of the county only, centered on the town of Christiana, Pennsylvania">Christiana. Rest of county uses the 717 area code. *Lebanon County, Pennsylvania">Lebanon County - Newmanstown, Pennsylvania">Newmanstown is the only Lebanon County municipality to use 610 as its area code, specifically 610-589-XXXX (also shared with Womelsdorf, Berks County). *Lehigh County, Pennsylvania">Lehigh County - All but extreme southwestern portion, served by the Pennsburg, Pennsylvania">Pennsburg exchange in the 215/267 overlay. *Montgomery County, Pennsylvania">Montgomery County - Southern and western portions; other areas are served by the 215/267 area codes. *New Castle County, Delaware - A few houses along West Ridge Road and Sterling Avenue in Lower Chichester Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Lower Chichester, Pennsylvania/Claymont, Delaware straddle the border but have Pennsylvania phone numbers. * Northampton County - All but extreme northeastern portions, such as Portland and Upper Mount Bethel Township, which are in the 570 area code * Carbon County - Southern portion, served by the 377

Lehighton Lehighton () is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Lehighton is located northwest of Allentown and northwest of Philadelphia. Due in part to water power from the Lehigh River, Lehighton was an ...

and the 824 and 826 Palmerton exchanges. The western end of the county, including Lansford and Summit Hill, may use 610/484 for mobile and digital numbers while retaining 570-645 for conventional phone numbers. * Monroe County - Far southwestern portion * Schuylkill County - The southern and eastern fringes of this county, including portions of East Brunswick, West Brunswick, and West Penn Township (served by the Lehighton, Germansville, and Kempton exchanges) and Port Clinton borough are assigned 610/484, however the majority of it is in 570/272, and even smaller portions (including Tower City) are in 717. ;Towns and cities: The following towns and cities are included in the numbering plan area:

, Catasauqua, Chadds Ford,

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, Christiana, Downingtown, Easton,

Emmaus Emmaus (; Greek: Ἐμμαούς, ''Emmaous''; la, Emmaus; , ''Emmaom''; ar, عمواس, ''ʻImwas'') is a town mentioned in the Gospel of Luke of the New Testament. Luke reports that Jesus appeared, after his death and resurrection, before ...

, Exton,

Folsom Folsom may refer to: People * Folsom (surname) Places in the United States * Folsom, Perry County, Alabama * Folsom, Randolph County, Alabama * Folsom, California * Folsom, Georgia * Folsom, Louisiana * Folsom, Missouri * Folsom, New Jers ...

, Gap,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Havertown, Kutztown,

, Macungie, Malvern,

Media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass ...

Newtown Square Newtown Township is a township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Prior to 1789 it was part of Chester County. The population was 12,216 as of the 2010 census, and was 19,705 as of 2017. History The first mention of the township was in 1684 ...

, North Catasauqua,

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, Palmerton, Paoli, Pottstown,

, Shillington, Sinking Spring, Tamaqua,

Upper Darby Upper Darby Township, often shortened to Upper Darby, is a home rule township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The township borders Philadelphia, the nation's sixth most populous city as of 2020 with 1.6 million residents. As of the 2020 cen ...

, West Chester, Whitehall Township, Willistown,

Wind Gap A wind gap (or air gap) is a gap through which a waterway once flowed that is now dry as a result of stream capture. A water gap is a similar feature, but one in which a waterway still flows. Water gaps and wind gaps often provide routes which ...

, Wyomissing.

Prior usage for TWX

Most of the N10 area codes (510, 710, 810, and 910) were used prior to 1981 by

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...

for the Teletypewriter Exchange Service (TWX). Telex use of these area codes in the United States was decommissioned in 1981 when

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...

, who had acquired the TWX network in 1969, and renamed it Telex II, upgraded the network to "4-row"

ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...

operation. Area code 510 was reassigned to

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...

in 1991, 710 went to the US federal government in 1983, 810 and 910 were assigned to Michigan and North Carolina, respectively in 1993. The last TWX code, 610, outlived the others because it was controlled by

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...

, and not directly affected by AT&T's exit from teletype services. Area code 610 was replaced with non-geographic Canadian

area code 600 Area code 600 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for non-geographic use in Canada of specialized telecommunication services such as telex applications, caller-pays cellular, ISDN, and mobile satellite communication serv ...

in 1992, freeing the area code for reassignment to general telecommunication services. When it was reassigned in 1994, area code 610 was the last geographic area code assigned to follow the original pattern of having the digits ''1'' or ''0'' in the middle position. In 1995, the assignment of interchangeable NPA codes commenced, which broke the pattern.

References

External links

History

Service area

Prior usage for TWX

See also

References

External links