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Area codes 920 and 274 are telephonearea codes in theNorth American Numbering Plan (NANP) for a large area of easternWisconsin. Area code 920 was created on July 26, 1997, in a split ofarea code 414, one of theoriginal North American area codes of 1947. 274 was added to the same numbering plan area (NPA) on May 5, 2023 to create anarea code overlay.
The 920/274 area code covers most of Northeast Wisconsin includingGreen Bay and theFox Cities as well as the far northern and eastern exurban areas of theMadison MSA and far northern and western portions of theMilwaukee CSA
When theAmerican Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) divided the North American continent into the original eighty-six numbering plan areas (NPAs) for the first nationwidetelephone numbering plan in 1947, Wisconsin received two area codes,414 for the south and northeast, and715, for the northern part.
On November 22, 1996, Ameritech notifiedBellcore, theNorth American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA), that demand for telephone numbers had rapidly increased in the eastern part of the state, so that a jeopardy condition existed in which mitigation could not be provided early enough to avoid exhaustion of the numbering pool.[1]
On January 15, 1997, the NANP announced a split of the numbering plan area to create the new area code 920,[2] in which Milwaukee and the surrounding communities south of the city would retain the existing area code, and the northern portion of the numbering plan area would receive 920. The split became effective on July 26, 1997, and a permissive dialing period ended on October 25, 1997.[3]
In 2008, service providers recognized the need for a second area code for northeastern Wisconsin, leading thePublic Service Commission of Wisconsin to approve anoverlay plan with newarea code 274.[4][5] The effective date for the new area code was announced as March 10, 2012. However, on December 22, 2010, PSC ordered a postponement of the plan due to new exhaustion forecasts for 2014.[6] TheGreat Recession, number porting, a decline inlandlines, and other factors delayed that requirement for fifteen years during which implementation was deferred several times.[7][8]
Prior to October 2021, area code 920 had telephone numbers assigned for thecentral office code 988. In 2020,988 was designated nationwide as a dialing code for theNational Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which created a conflict because area code 920 permittedseven-digit dialing. 920 transitioned toten-digit dialing on October 24, 2021.[9]On December 8, 2008, the Public Service Commission finally approved an all-services distributed overlay as the relief method for NPA 920 and on March 16, 2022, the NANPA established the timeline for installation, setting the in-service date of area code 274 to March 22, 2024. Only months later, based on new exhaustion studies,[10] this timeline was revised to May 5, 2023.[11]The 274 area code has been established as an overlay for 920 as of May 5, 2023 but over 100 prefixes are permissible in Green Bay, WI e.g. 274-200-XXXX or 274-300-XXXX or 274-755-5555 but only 1 or 2 have been established in the vicinity of Sheboygan, WI and Winnebago, WI e.g. 274-766-XXXX.
The area code serves the following counties:
This includes the following towns and cities:
Area code 920 was commonly remembered by using themnemonic device of the lateGreen Bay PackerReggie White'sjersey number, 92, adding a zero.[12]
| North:534/715,906 | ||
| West:608/353 | 920/274 | East:Lake Michigan,231 |
| South:262 | ||
| Michigan area codes:231,248/947,269,313,517,586,616,734,810,906,989 | ||