For customers of some

telephone companies A telephone company, also known as a telco, telephone service provider, or telecommunications operator, is a kind of communications service provider (CSP), more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunica ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, 6-1-1 is the

abbreviated dialing Abbreviated dialing is the use of a very short digit sequence to reach specific telephone numbers, such as those of public services. The purpose of such numbers is to be universal, short, and easy to remember. Typically they are two or three digits ...

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 ...

used to report a problem with telephone service, or with a payphone. It is an

N11 code An N11 code (pronounced ''Enn-one-one'') is a three-digit telephone number used in abbreviated dialing in some telephone administrations of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). Services N11-numbers are used to access to special services. F ...

of the North American Numbering Plan that are used for special services.

Current usage

Many landline and mobile phone providers support 6-1-1. Some providers who supply other services, such as Internet or cable television, support these other services with 6-1-1. While 611 has not been officially designated by the FCC, this code receives nearly 74 million calls annually, making it the most frequently used N-1-1 number in the United States.

Assignment

The 6-1-1 number is not officially assigned by the United States

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

(FCC) or the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), but both have chosen not to disturb the assignment as it is generally recognized across the

North American Numbering Plan Administration 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 calling ...

(NANPA).

Current usage

Assignment

References

See also