Area code 813

Area code 813 is the telephone numbering plan code for the city of Tampa, Florida, and surrounding areas such as Zephyrhills and Oldsmar.

Coverage

Area code 813 covers all of Hillsborough County, the city of Oldsmar in Pinellas County, and the central portion of Pasco County. The eastern portion of Pasco County is in area code 352, while the western portion is in area code 727.

History

Area code 813 became Florida's second area code in 1953, when it was split from the state's original area code, area code 305.[1] The area code stretched along the Gulf Coast from Pasco County to Collier County and included the cities of St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Fort Myers, and Lakeland.

Split into area codes 941 and 863

On March 3, 1996, 13 counties south and east of Hillsborough County—from Manatee County to Collier County—split from the 813 area code after 43 years in the coverage area as area code 941.

Split into area code 727

Although the 1996 split was intended to be a long-term solution, within only two years, 813 was close to exhaustion again due to the rapid growth of Tampa Bay area and the proliferation of cell phones and pagers. The Florida Public Service Commission decided to assign area code 727 as another area code for the region. It was originally supposed to be an overlay for the 813 territory. However, overlays were still a fairly new concept at the time, and the mixing of area codes in the same region, and the resulting requirement for 10-digit dialing, was met with considerable resistance.

With this in mind, on February 1, 1999, area code 727 became the new area code for most of Pinellas County (except Oldsmar) and western Pasco County, leaving the present area.[2] For a number of reasons, Oldsmar stayed in 813 despite being in Pinellas. Oldsmar's trunk was wired into the Tampa line and it would have cost too much for GTE (now part of Verizon), the dominant phone company in the Tampa Bay area, to rewire it. Another reason was that since Oldsmar is right on the Pinellas/Hillsborough line, it was the only local exchange that was a local call to both cities. Most of the dialup Internet access numbers and alarm system reporting numbers in Tampa and St. Petersburg are located in Oldsmar. GTE and the Florida Public Service Commission wanted to spare alarm companies and ISPs the cost of reprogramming and replacing systems that couldn't handle 10 digits.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "DEMAND FORCES SOUTHERN BELL TO MAKE A SWITCH IN AREA CODES" - The Orlando Sentinel, Sept. 1 1986
  2. ↑ http://www.nanpa.com/pdf/pl-nanp-121.pdf

External links

Florida area codes: 239, 305, 321, 352, 386, 407, 561, 727, 754, 772, 786, 813, 850, 863, 904, 941, 954
North: 352
West: 727 Area code 813 East: 863
South: 941

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