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Area code 856 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the southwestern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The numbering plan area (NPA) includes the Camden, Cherry Hill, and Vineland areas and a small part of Willingboro Township and the western part of Burlington County. 856 is essentially coextensive with the New Jersey side of the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

The area code was created in 1999 in a split of area code 609.

History

The entire state of New Jersey was assigned area code 201 in 1947, when the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) established a nationwide telephone numbering plan for use in Operator Toll Dialing, which later developed into the North American Numbering plan. The area code had its debut in customer-dialed communication in 1951, with the first trial of Direct Distance Dialing (DDD).

In 1956, the administration divided the state into two numbering plan areas, retaining 201 for the northern part, while the southern part of the state received area code 609. However, no area codes were needed for all calls between the two numbering plan areas until 1963.

With the increasing demand for telephone numbers by businesses, increased used of fax machines, pagers and cell phones, area code 609 exhausted its numbering capacity. Area code 856 was announced by Bell Atlantic in March 1999, and was approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities shortly thereafter. The new area code became operational on June 12, 1999. A permissive dialing period of five months ended on November 13, 1999, during which seven-digit was still permitted.

Prior to October 2021, area code 856 had telephone numbers assigned for the central office code 988. In 2020, 988 was designated nationwide as a dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which created a conflict for exchanges that permit seven-digit dialing. This area code was therefore scheduled to transition to ten-digit dialing by October 24, 2021.

See also

• List of New Jersey area codes
• List of North American Numbering Plan area codes

References

1. Demasters, Karen (1999-03-14). "IN BRIEF; 609 Divided by 2 Will Equal Area Code 856 - New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
2. Now you can call, if your calls don't work some business lines aren't set up to all to new area codes. Archived March 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, The Virginian-Pilot, 1995-11-01. Retrieved 2007-06-08
3. "1951: First Direct-Dial Transcontinental Telephone Call". AT&T. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
4. "About Verizon New Jersey: Years 1931 to 1969". Verizon Communications. 2007-09-29. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
5. Breidenbaugh, R.C. Geographic Split of 609 (New Jersey) NPA; addition of 856 NPA. May 1999 NXX updates, NANPA Planning Letter dated May 5, 1999. Accessed July 4, 2007.
6. "Transition to 10-digit dialing (for 988 as 3-digit access to National Suicide Prevention Hotline)" (PDF). North American Numbering Plan Administrator. January 8, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.

External links

• NANPA area code map of New Jersey

39°55′52″N 75°02′21″W / 39.9310°N 75.0393°W / 39.9310; -75.0393

• Area codes in the United States
• Area codes in New Jersey
• Burlington County, New Jersey
• Camden County, New Jersey
• Cumberland County, New Jersey
• Gloucester County, New Jersey