TELEPHONE AREA CODE 3-2-1

Area code 312 was the original area code assigned to the Chicago metropolitan area. It remains today as the area code for downtown Chicago. When area codes were initially assigned under the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), area code 321 was reserved for future use in the Chicago area. In 1999, the 407-area code in central Florida was to be split with the east coast (Space Coast) to be assigned a new area code. A local resident by the name of Robert Osband launched (pun intended) a drive to have 3-2-1 assigned as the new area code. The code refers to the countdown sequence for spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral. Osband’s efforts were successful and 321 was activated for the Space Coast in 2000. When it was activated in 2000, area code 321 was used as an overlay for most of area code 407 in the Orlando area. (An overlay is a telephone numbering plan that assigns multiple area codes to a geographic numbering plan area (NPA)). 321 is the only area code in North America that is the overlay of one area code and the sole area code elsewhere. 10-digit dialing* is mandatory in both areas.

*Your humble blogger happened to live in central Florida when 10-digit dialing became mandatory. For those of you not familiar with 10-digit dialing, this meant that you had to dial the area code for all calls. For example, if I wanted to call my next-door neighbor, who also had an area code of 407, I still had to dial the area code + the telephone number (10-digits). As an aside, it quickly became routine to dial 10 numbers every time you made a call. So much so, that when I moved from area code 407 and no longer had to do 10-digit dialing, it became a difficult habit to break.