Northern California Will Get 2 New Area Codes, Pac Bell Says
Two of California’s three original telephone area codes will be split next year, Pacific Bell announced Thursday.
The 415 and 916 area codes will be divided to accommodate the increasing demand for phone numbers brought on by cellular phones, fax machines and pagers.
The new 650 code for the southern San Francisco Peninsula will begin at the southern city line and extend southward to include most of San Mateo and parts of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.
San Francisco International Airport will be included under the new area code, which is expected to last for 11 years before another area code split is needed. The 650 area code will go into service Aug. 1, 1997, and include about 2 million people.
One million subscribers in the northeastern portion of the state will be put in the new 530 area code on Nov. 1, 1997. Sacramento County and parts of southern Placer and eastern Yolo counties will retain the 916 area code.
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