Area code 202
Encyclopedia
Image:Area code 202.svg|right|The area colored red indicates the geographical region of the District of Columbia, served by area code 202
poly 0 50 49 54 103 84 111 88 101 107 118 130 143 139 179 140 211 188 238 203 260 240 259 248 248 250 255 262 253 357 1 357 Area codes 571 and 703
poly 1 1 0 45 52 48 117 84 109 109 121 127 180 136 199 164 254 112 345 204 264 286 258 358 420 358 420 1 Area codes 240 and 301
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202 is the North American
North American
North American generally refers to an entity, people, group, or attribute of North America, especially of the United States and Canada together.-Culture:*North American English, a collective term used to describe American English and Canadian English...
telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
area code
Telephone numbering plan
A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunications to allocate telephone numbers to subscribers and to route telephone calls in a telephone network. A closed numbering plan, such as found in North America, imposes a fixed total length to numbers...
for Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
It was one of the area codes originally assigned in October 1947.
As of 2010, there are no plans to overlay
Overlay plan
In telephony, especially in North America, an overlay plan is the practice of introducing a new area code by applying it onto a geographic area that is already occupied by one or more existing area codes, resulting in two area codes serving the same area.- Methodology :Prior to the introduction of...
the area code, as the North American Numbering Plan Administration
North American Numbering Plan
The North American Numbering Plan is an integrated telephone numbering plan administered by Neustar which encompasses 24 countries and territories, including the United States and its territories, Canada, Bermuda, and 16 nations of the Caribbean...
estimates the current supply of 202 numbers is sufficient at least to the year 2018. For a local call between two telephones in the District, 7-digit dialing
7-digit dialing
7-digit dialing is a popular term referring to the traditional convention in the United States and Canada for dialing local phone calls. It is also sometimes known as local format or network format....
is permitted, although the call will be connected if the area code is dialed. There is, of course, no provision for long-distance calls within the area code.
Originally, area code 202 was an unpublished alternate area code for the nearby suburbs in Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
and Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, which were officially in area codes 301 and 703, respectively. That arrangement allowed local calls throughout the metropolitan area to be dialed using only seven digits. For example, a telephone number in Kensington, Maryland
Kensington, Maryland
Kensington is a town in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The population was 1,873 at the 2000 census. Greater Kensington encompasses the entire 20895 zip code and its population is an order of magnitude larger than that of the town at its center....
, that was officially 301-949-xxxx could be dialed as 202-949-xxxx as well. However, on October 1, 1990, due to pending number exhaustion, the ability to dial the suburbs using area code 202 ended (to start allowing previously-impossible prefix duplications), and local calls between area codes required 10-digit dialing
10-digit dialing
In the United States and Canada, 10-digit dialing is a popular term used to refer to the practice of including the area code of a phone number when dialing...
(area code + number, leading "1" is not required and is usually not allowed).
Phone numbers for offices in Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
begin with 202-224, 202-225, or 202-226.
See also
- North American Numbering PlanNorth American Numbering PlanThe North American Numbering Plan is an integrated telephone numbering plan administered by Neustar which encompasses 24 countries and territories, including the United States and its territories, Canada, Bermuda, and 16 nations of the Caribbean...
- List of NANP area codes
- Original area codes