Area code 480

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Area code 775Area code 702Area code 435Area code 970Area code 505Area code 760Area code 623Area code 623Area code 623Area code 480Area code 623Area code 623Area code 623Area code 602Area code 602Area code 520Area code 480Area code 520Area code 928Area code 928
Clickable map of Arizona area codes in blue (and border states) with Area Code 480 shown in red

North American area code 480 is a telephone area code in Arizona serving the eastern and northern portions of the Phoenix metropolitan area. It was created on April 1, 1999, in a three-way split of area code 602, when it was apparent that the Valley of the Sun was growing too fast for it to remain entirely in one area code. Generally, 480 is coextensive with the East Valley, while most of the West Valley is area code 623 and most of Phoenix itself remained in 602.

By the turn of the millennium, 602 was running out of numbers just four years after all of the state outside of the Valley of the Sun was split off as area code 520. Original plans called for 480 to be an overlay code for the entire Phoenix metro area. However, overlays were a new concept at the time, and met with considerable resistance due to potential geographic ambiguity, as well as the requirement for ten-digit dialing. A three-way geographic split was chosen instead, with 480 assigned to the East Valley.

The 480 area code encompasses Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Fountain Hills, Tempe (except for a small portion west and south of the I-10 Broadway Curve, which stayed in 602), Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Queen Creek, Apache Junction, as well as far northeast Phoenix and the Phoenix neighborhood of Ahwatukee, and newer unincorporated communities in far northwest Pinal County that are becoming part of the Greater Phoenix metropolitan area due to heavy development. Also in area code 480 are pagers for the Iridium satellite telephone service.

The three Valley area codes form one of the largest local calling areas in the western United States. With few exceptions, no long-distance charges are applied from one portion of the Valley to another. Even after the split into three area codes, most of the Valley is still part of the Phoenix exchange, making Phoenix one of the largest rate centers in the United States.[1]

Prior to October 2021, area code 480 had telephone numbers assigned for the central office code 988. In 2020, 988 was designated nationwide as a dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which created a conflict for exchanges that permit seven-digit dialing. This area code was therefore scheduled to transition to ten-digit dialing by October 24, 2021.[2]

As of October 2020, area code 480 is expected to reach exhaustion by the first quarter of 2024.[3] Two years later, in 2026, 602 is projected to exhaust. However, 623 is not forecast to exhaust until 2069; in 2021, it had 299 assigned central office codes as opposed to more than 700 in each of 480 and 602. After the North American Numbering Plan Administrator initiated relief planning for 480, the state's telecommunications industry recommended to the Arizona Corporation Commission that the 1999 area code boundaries be eliminated, creating a three-code overlay complex and allowing the assignment of new numbers (primarily from 623) throughout the Phoenix rate center. This would save the assignment of two area codes and last 26 years, as opposed to 35 for the introduction of new area codes.[4] The Corporation Commission approved this plan on November 9, 2021. Implementation would not begin until August 2022, after the national deadline to activate 988, with a six-month permissive 10-digit dialing period for the 602 and 623 areas to begin at some point in January 2023 ahead of the overlay becoming effective in August of that year.[5]

Arizona area codes: 480, 520, 602, 623, 928
North: 623, 928
West: 602, 928 area code 480 East: 520, 928
South: 520

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Local calling guide: Phoenix, AZ
  2. ^ "Transition to 10-digit dialing (for 988 as 3-digit access to National Suicide Prevention Hotline)" (PDF). North American Numbering Plan Administrator. January 8, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  3. ^ "2020-2 NRUF and NPA Exhaust Analysis" (PDF).
  4. ^ Wheeler Miller, Kimberly (June 8, 2021). "Application of the North American Numbering Plan Administrator, on Behalf of the Arizona Telecommunications Industry, for Relief of the 480 Numbering Plan Area" (PDF). Retrieved October 29, 2021.
  5. ^ "Findings of Fact" (PDF). Arizona Corporation Commission. November 9, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2021.

Coordinates: 33°30′N 111°48′W / 33.5°N 111.8°W / 33.5; -111.8

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