From Mod.telecom on the USENET New England Telephone has announced that NPA617 (Eastern Mass.) is being split, with the area outside (inner) Metro Boston and some of the South Shore being moved into the new NPA508. Joy of joys for the affected! Worcester, Lowell, Maynard and New Bedford all get a new area code, along with suburbs like Framingham and Concord. Yet the Western Mass. NPA413 is practically empty. (Who drew the original lines?!?) In the meantime, the ISDN Standards Committee T1D1 (which I'm on) has faced the question of how to set up a numbering plan for North America, based on extending the present plan to include non-local exchange ISDNs? For example, Telenet wants their own NXX codes. Bellcore has offered them an area code, but from the "interchangeable" range (like "552"), so it won't be dialable from telephones until we prepare to run out of current-style area codes. If we give the other carriers NXX codes, some area codes may exhaust earlier. That will, of course, force the rest of the network to catch up and go to universal 1+ dialing before the presently-estimated 1995 date. This got me thinking: How close to full up are the NPAs? So I hacked the following together based upon the V&H tape used for billing. Sorry I couldn't make it multi-column or get states listed. This may be a clue as to which codes split next. (I've added my own comments.) fred NPA COUNT COMMENTS 201 543 North Jersey. Getting right up there. 202 437 203 349 204 308 205 522 206 431 207 306 208 246 209 257 212 467 213 524 Los Angeles already split off 818. 214 542 A Dallas split is rumored soon. 215 481 216 477 217 325 218 267 219 307 301 538 Maryland. Busier than 617. 302 73 Delaware. Every state gets one, y'know. 303 557 Colorado has been growing... 304 298 305 540 Miami too. 306 416 307 133 Wyoming. 308 186 309 237 312 640 Why hasn't Chicago split yet? 313 504 314 454 315 228 316 332 317 325 318 298 319 308 401 108 Rhode Island. 402 385 403 544 Alberta and some NWT - Canada's busiest 404 456 405 462 406 316 407 0 408 216 409 255 410 0 412 377 413 109 W. Mass - what a waste of a good code! 414 378 415 483 San Francisco, also rumored for split. 416 433 417 181 418 327 419 304 501 480 502 310 503 441 504 267 505 261 506 143 507 249 508 0 509 213 512 501 San Antonio, TX. 513 396 514 363 515 377 516 283 517 285 518 211 519 286 601 358 602 440 603 193 604 480 605 310 606 240 607 146 608 210 609 204 610 0 612 424 613 220 614 338 615 430 616 317 617 533 E. Mass - splitting off 508 in 1988 618 300 619 329 701 333 702 195 703 415 704 265 705 239 706 96 Northwest Mexico hack, not a real NPA 707 145 708 0 709 237 710 0 Unlisted code used for AT&T Government services. 712 265 713 414 714 364 715 288 716 322 717 410 718 294 719 0 801 265 802 167 803 396 804 371 805 193 806 225 807 97 W. Ontario - another waste. 808 163 809 340 810 0 812 243 813 344 814 237 815 255 816 401 817 381 818 240 819 282 900 24 901 178 902 221 903 0 904 356 905 206 906 109 Upper Michigan, tied with 413. 907 340 908 0 909 0 910 0 912 270 913 399 914 256 915 257 916 319 917 0 918 257 919 510 North Carolina's growing quickly.