Area codes 303, 720, and 983 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, rea ...

s 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 north-central portion 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 ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. The numbering plan area (NPA) comprises

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

and

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

, as well as their surrounding suburbs, including Lakewood, Littleton, Longmont, Broomfield,

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

, and Castle Rock. Area code 303 is the original area code of the NPA, as well as for the entire state, reduced in geographic extent over time. Area codes 720 and 983 were added in 1998 and 2022, respectively, to form 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 ...

for the area, meaning that the same geographic service area is served by all area codes and that

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 ...

is required for all calls made within the service area.

History

Area code 303 was one of the

original North American area codes The original North American area codes were established by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1947. The assignment was in accord with the design of a uniform nationwide telephone numbering plan that supported the goal of dialin ...

of 1947, and originally served the entire state of Colorado. It remained the state's sole area code for 40 years. Colorado's growth in the second half of the 20th century, particularly in the Denver/Boulder area, made it a certainty that Colorado would need another area code. An impending number shortage in the late 1980s meant this split could no longer be staved off. On March 5, 1988, southeastern Colorado, including

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

and

Pueblo Pueblo refers to the settlements of the Pueblo peoples, Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlement ...

, was split off as

area code 719 Area code 719 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of Colorado. The numbering plan area (NPA) includes Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Monument, Leadville, Alamosa, Monte Vista, the San Luis Vall ...

. This was intended as a long-term solution, but within five years further demand for numbers and the proliferation of cell phones and pagers (especially in and around Denver) forced another split. The northeastern and western portions of area code 303, including Fort Collins, Grand Junction, Vail and

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

, were separated on April 2, 1995, and became

area code 970 Area code 970 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the western and northern parts of the U.S. of State of Colorado. The numbering plan area includes Aspen, Breckenridge, Durango, Estes Park, Fort Collins, ...

. This split reduced 303 to the Denver-Boulder area. With the 1995 split, 303 was the only Colorado area code that did not border another state. Within two years, continued sharp growth in the

Front Range The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado, and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encounter ...

made further relief necessary. The Front Range is home not only to most of Colorado's landlines, but also most of the state's cell phones, fax machines, and pagers. On September 1, 1998, area code 720 was instituted in the 303 service area to create an overlay. In 2020, the North American Numbering Plan Administrator estimated that the Denver metropolitan area would reach numbering exhaustion by 2023. On May 21, 2021, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission approved an additional area code, 983, for the 303/720 overlay complex. Area code 983 was activated on June 17, 2022. This addition resulted in 23.8 million numbers being assigned to an area of about 3.5 million people.

Local calling

The numbering plan area is one of the largest toll-free calling zones in the western United States. With the exception of Roggen,

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, and Wiggins, no long-distance charges are levied for any calls made from one telephone to another in the area.

Unofficial holiday

303 Day, named for the area code, is an unofficial holiday on which Colorado businesses celebrate their state by offering discounts on March 3. The observance was created in 2009 by Jeb Freedman, a KTCL radio personality, and members of the band

3OH!3 3OH!3 (pronounced "three oh three") is an American music duo from Boulder, Colorado, consisting of American vocalists Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte. They are best known for their single "Don't Trust Me", which was the lead single from their ...

References

External links

Localcallingguide.com NPA 303Localcallingguide.com NPA 720
{{coord, 40, N, 105, W, scale:500000, display=title Telecommunications-related introductions in 1947 Telecommunications-related introductions in 1998 Telecommunications-related introductions in 2022 303 303 Boulder, Colorado Denver metropolitan area

History

Local calling

Unofficial holiday

See also

References

External links