Area code 706
In the
NANP,
area code 706 covers all of northern
Georgia outside of
metro Atlanta. Until
1992 it was within
area code 404, which was retained by the metro area.
This area code is split into two disconnected sections. The small section is west-central Georgia, in the region around
Columbus. This is bordered by
area code 334 to the west in
Alabama,
area code 478 to the east,
area code 229 to the south, and metro Atlanta's 404,
678,
770, and future
470. It does not touch the
landline area of 404, only the
cellphone area.
The major section of 706 wraps around from
Rome in northwest Georgia, east through the mountains past
Dahlonega, meeting its narrowest point at
Toccoa, then broadening south to
Athens and
Augusta. It touches Alabama's
area code 256 on the far west,
Tennessee's
area code 423 on the northwest,
North Carolina's
area code 828 on the north-northeast,
upstate South Carolina's
area code 864 and mid-state
area code 803, middle Georgia's 478 and metro Atlanta as above.
In
June 2005, the
Georgia Public Service Commission announced that 706 is near exhaust for new
telephone exchange prefixes, and would be overlaid by a new
area code. On
June 24th, the
NANPA assigned
area code 762 for this purpose, with 10-digit dialing to be allowed on
September 3, and to be required on
April 1 of
2006.
This is the third time that the GPSC has flip-flopped on its
policy for deciding how new area codes would be assigned. Metro Atlanta's
suburbs were split into 770, but then both 404 and 770 were overlaid with 678, and cellphones (originally 404 only) can now have any of those no matter where in the metro area. Southern Georgia was then split three ways instead of an overlay. Surprisingly, this area code which is already physically split will then go back to an overlay, though there is still time for the PSC to correct this, possibly assigning the Columbus area to the new code, then splitting the remainder at Toccoa at another time.
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