- Area code 850
.
Original Plan
Area code 850 gfg was originally intended to be the relief code used in the 1995 split of the 904 area code. The Jacksonville, Panama City, Pensacola, and Tallahassee LATAs were to retain 904 while the Daytona Beach and Gainesville LATAs changed to 850. This plan was scrapped in favor of a plan that moved only the Gainesville LATA to a new area code, this time 352 (FLA on the telephone keypad) and kept the Daytona Beach LATA in 904 along with the rest of northern Florida. The reason for changing from 850 to 352 was a potential dialing conflict with the 407-850 office code and some rate centers in the Gainesville LATA with 7-digit EAS local calling into the 407 area code. Political pressure from the tourism industry in Daytona Beach resulted in that area being kept in the 904 area code.
Implemented Plan
In 1996 the Florida Public Service Commission had planned a 3-way split to relieve the exhausting 904 area code to take place in 1997. The Jacksonville
LATA would move to a proposed 234 area code while the Daytona BeachLATA would change to the 386 area code. The Pensacola, Panama City, and Tallahassee LATAs would have retained the 904 area code. Outcry from the public and business community in the Jacksonville region as well as opposition fromNANPA and theFCC forced the Florida PSC to change course and adopt the plan that was ultimately implemented with Pensacola, Tallahassee, and Panama City moving to 850 and Jacksonville and Daytona Beach retaining 904.Cities served by the 850 area code
* Pensacola
* Destin
* Fort Walton Beach
* Crestview
* Panama City
* Tallahassee
* Monticello
* Valparaiso
* Niceville
* Marianna
* DeFuniak Springs
* Navarre
* Gulf Breezeee also
*
List of Florida area codes External links
Area Code Box 2|State=FL|This= area code 850
N= 229, 251, 334
S=Gulf of Mexico
E= 352, 386
W= 251
S1=AL|S2=GAReferences
* [http://www.sprint.com/areacodes/florida/history.html Florida's Area Code History]
ee also
*
List of Florida area codes
*List of NANP area codes
*North American Numbering Plan External links
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