- Area code 863
863 is the telephone
area code inFlorida which covers the Heartland, as well as Polk County inCentral Florida . Some of the larger and more notable cities in the 863 area code include Lakeland, Bartow,Winter Haven , Lake Wales, Avon Park, Sebring, Clewiston and Poinciana.Description
Area code 863 covers the total area of the following counties: Polk, Hardee, Highlands, Glades, and Hendry. Almost the entire area, except a small slivers of De Soto and Okeechobee counties are in the 863 area code. A tiny, nearly unpopulated area of St. Lucie county is also in the 863 area
History
The region currently belonging to Area code 863 was originally part of Area code 305, which covered the entire state of
Florida . In1953 , the state of Florida split into three Area codes, the original being retained in the Southeast coast,Area code 904 allocated to Northern Florida, andArea code 813 given to the southwest coast including the current 863 area, as well as the entire southwest Florida coast, including theTampa Bay area. The 813 area code was untouched for 43 years until 1996 when the 13 counties outside of the immediate Tampa Bay area (all but Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties) were given theArea code 941 . In 1999, the 863 area code took its current form as the coastal counties of the 941 Area code kept the 941 Area code, while the rest were given the new 863 area code.ee also
*
List of Florida area codes
*List of NANP area codes
*North American Numbering Plan References
* [http://www.sprint.com/areacodes/florida/history.html Florida's Area Code History]
External links
Area_Code_Box 0|This=Area code 863|State=FL
N=321/407, 352
S=239, 754/954
E=561, 772
W=813, 941
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