202 is the North American telephone area code for Washington, D.C. It was one of the area codes originally assigned in October 1947. The capitol was assigned 202 because the North American Numbering Plan Administration wanted to keep the number of "clicks" to a minimum for densely populated areas, given the rotary dialing technology in use at the time. Washington, D.C. was thus assigned an area code with fourteen clicks.
As of 2012, there are no plans to overlay the 202 area code, as NANPA estimates the current supply of 202 numbers is sufficient at least to the year 2019. For a local call between two telephones in the District, 7-digit dialing 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Originally, area code 202 was an unpublished alternate area code for the nearby suburbs in Maryland and Virginia, which were officially in area codes 301 and 703, respectively. This was possible because the entire Washington metropolitan area is a single LATA. That arrangement allowed local calls throughout the metropolitan area to be dialed using only seven digits. For example, a telephone number in Kensington, Maryland, 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 (area code + number, leading "1" is not required and is usually not allowed). The Washington area's one-LATA status limited the supply of available numbers on the Maryland and Virginia sides of the region, speeding the decision to overlay 703 with 571 on the Virginia side and split Maryland into two area codes.
Phone numbers for offices in Congress begin with 202-224, 202-225, or 202-226.
Famous quotes containing the words area and/or code:
“Prestige is the shadow of money and power. Where these are, there it is. Like the national market for soap or automobiles and the enlarged arena of federal power, the national cash-in area for prestige has grown, slowly being consolidated into a truly national system.”
—C. Wright Mills (1916–1962)
“Wise Draco comes, deep in the midnight roll
Of black artillery; he comes, though late;
In code corroborating Calvin’s creed
And cynic tyrannies of honest kings;
He comes, nor parlies; and the Town, redeemed,
Gives thanks devout; nor, being thankful, heeds
The grimy slur on the Republic’s faith implied,
Which holds that Man is naturally good,
And—more—is Nature’s Roman, never to be
scourged.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)