- Area code 404
Area code 404 covers Atlanta and its immediate
neighbor s, roughly withinInterstate 285 .Originally, it covered all of Georgia when the
area code system was first created in the 1940s and implemented in 1951. OnJuly 1 ,1954 ,area code 912 was assigned to southern andmiddle Georgia . (SinceAugust 1 ,2000 most 912 split, includingsouthwest Georgia , nowarea code 229 , and central Georgia, nowarea code 478 .) That long-standing relationship came to an end onMay 3 ,1992 whennorth Georgia beyondmetro Atlanta was pushed intoarea code 706 (which is now overlaid witharea code 762 ).Residents of
exurb an areas complained about no longer being identified with 404, andBellSouth (nowAT&T ) brought them back in, also adding them to what was already (and still is) the world's largest toll-free calling zone. This, however, hastened the addition of another area code to metro Atlanta, forcing all of itssuburb s and exurbs intoarea code 770 onAugust 1 ,1995 , but leaving allcellphone s in 404. OnJanuary 1 ,1998 ,area code 678 was overlaid onto all of both 404 and 770, and the FCC then forcedten-digit dialing for every call. Because the FCC would not allow an area code to apply only to cellphones, this also threw open the doors to new mobile numbers also having 678 or 770 instead of just 404.On
September 2 ,2001 ,area code 470 was overlaid on top of the 404, 770, and 678 area codes. Once phone numbers in the 678 area code are exhausted, phone numbers in the 470 area code will be assigned. This is likely to create confusion however, as it is common localshorthand to write only the first digit of the area code. Also potentially leading to misdialed calls is that it ends in "70" just like 770, and can easily be mistaken in the south metro area for adjacent area code 478. The number was chosen by theGeorgia Public Service Commission and approved byNANPA , as was the repeated and arbitrary flip-flopping between splits and overlays for new area codes in the state.High-capacity telephone numbers, such as for
contest line s forradio station s, are assigned prefix 741. When 770 was split, these numbers continued to work as both 404-741-"xxxx" and as 770-741-"xxxx", so that onlyseven-digit dialing was necessary. This lasted until 678 came into use. There are also other prefixes which are not assigned to just one exchange, such as 499 and 528 used by Cobbcounty government and formerlySPSU . These were completely moved into 770.In popular culture
In the video game "", there is a fictional team called the Atlanta 404, an obvious reference to the area code.
ee also
*
List of NANP area codes
*North American Numbering Plan External links
Area Code Box 0|State=GA
This= area code 404"'; entire region overlaid by 470, 770, and 678 | N= 770/678
S= 770/678
E= 770/678
W= 770/678
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