801 and 385 are area codes overlays under the North American Numbering Plan covering the Wasatch Front in northern Utah. Specifically, area codes 801 and 385 cover Davis, Morgan, Salt Lake, Utah, and Weber counties. Some cities and towns included in this area code are Alta, Bountiful, Layton, Midvale, Murray, Ogden, Orem, Provo, Salt Lake City, Sandy, South Jordan, Taylorsville, West Jordan, and West Valley City
801 was one of the original area codes created in 1947. Until 21 September 1997, it covered all of Utah. The 435 code was assigned to the counties outside of the Wasatch Front and currently surrounds the 801 area. 385 is an overlay area code covering the same area as 801 which entered service on 1 June 2008.
The 1997 split was originally intended to be a long-term solution. However, the Wasatch Front is not only home to most of Utah's landlines, but most of its pagers, cell phones and fax machines as well . As a result, within only two years 801 was close to exhaustion once again. In 2000, the Public Service Commission (PSC) of Utah approved a split for 801 to take effect in 2001, in which Salt Lake County would retain the 801 area code and the rest of the Wasatch Front would be transferred to area code 385. Conservation measures allowed the repeated postponement of the area code split.
In July 2007, the PSC of Utah announced that the conservation measures would be exhausted in approximately June 2008, finally necessitating the implementation of the 385 area code. The same announcement stated that 385 would be overlaid, not split, with 801, so that both 801 and 385 would serve all five counties belonging to the pre-overlay 801 area code. As part of the overlay plan, 10-digit local dialing became mandatory along all of the Wasatch Front on 1 March 2009 (beginning 1 June 2008 and ending 1 March 2009, both seven and ten-digit calls were allowed).
While the 801 area code is still the predominant area code in the region for land lines, 385 is being adopted quickly by wireless providers.
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