Area codes 973 and 862 are

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

area codes 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 calling ...

(NANP) in the northernmost 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 sove ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. The numbering plan area (NPA) comprises the counties, or parts, of

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, Hudson,

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia *St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Manitob ...

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,7 ...

, Sussex and

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

Counties. Cities in this service area include

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

, Paterson, Clifton,

, Montclair, Morristown, Parsippany, Dover, Maplewood, and

The Oranges The Oranges are a group of four municipalities in Essex County, New Jersey, all of which have the word ''Orange'' in their name. The four municipalities are Orange, East Orange, South Orange and West Orange. All of these communities were n ...

. Area code 973 was created on June 1, 1997, in a split of

area code 201 Area codes 201 and 551 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan in the U.S. State of New Jersey. Area code 201 was the area code assigned to the entire state of New Jersey in 1947, when the North American area code system ...

, which was the original area code for of all of New Jersey when the North American Numbering Plan was inaugurated for nationwide operator dialing in 1947. In 1958, the numbering plan area of 201 was reduced to just northern New Jersey and in 1991 to just the northeastern part through area code splits. Due to the expansion of cell phones, pagers, and fax machines in the 1990s, the area code experienced the possible exhaustion of the numbering pool. The creation of 973 was intended as a long-term solution. However, within three years it was close to exhaustion once again. For relief, the numbering plan area was assigned a second area code 862 in an

overlay plan 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 proce ...

, making

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 ...

mandatory on December 1, 2001. This overlay was rolled out in conjunction with two other overlays in the northern half of the state.'' The Record'' (Bergen County), April 18, 2001. Accessed August 11, 2001. "The new New Jersey area codes—551, 356, and 848—were announced this week and will be introduced next year in the regions currently served by 201, 973, and 732, respectively."

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...

, the main telephone provider in the region, pressed for an overlay in order to spare North Jerseyans the expense and burden of having to change their numbers for the second time in a decade.

References

External links

List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload.com, 973 Area Code
{{DEFAULTSORT:Area Codes 862 And 973 Telecommunications-related introductions in 1997 973 And 862 973 And 862 Bergen County, New Jersey Essex County, New Jersey Hudson County, New Jersey Morris County, New Jersey Passaic County, New Jersey Sussex County, New Jersey Telecommunications-related introductions in 2001

See also

References

External links