Area Code 256 Prefix Blocks

What These Terms Mean

The fields shown on the area code, rate centre and LATA pages, in plain language.

Rate centre — The exchange area a number belongs to

The telephone exchange area a block of numbers is homed to, and what decides whether a call between two points is local. It is not a city: many places are localities inside a larger rate centre and have no numbers of their own. Clinton, Maryland is part of the Washington Zone 16 rate centre, so its numbers are 227, 240 and 301.

NPA-NXX — Area code and prefix

The first six digits of a North American number. NPA is the three-digit area code, NXX the three-digit prefix — so 416-200 is NPA 416, NXX 200. Knowing the NPA-NXX identifies the exchange a number was issued from.

Thousands-block — A prefix split into ten pieces

A prefix holds 10,000 numbers, which is more than most carriers need, so prefixes are pooled: split into ten blocks of a thousand and handed to different carriers. The block digit is the fourth digit of the number, and A means the whole prefix went to one carrier. This is why 512 has 783 prefixes but 6,011 rows — 512-555-1xxx and 512-555-2xxx can belong to different companies.

OCN — The carrier holding the block

Operating Company Number — a four-character code identifying the carrier of record for a block. Two carriers can share a brand name and still have different OCNs, which is why the tables show the number alongside the name.

ILEC — The incumbent operator for the area

Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier — the established local operator for a rate centre, usually the former Bell company. It differs from the OCN whenever a block belongs to a competitor: a Toronto block can be held by Bell Cellular while the incumbent for the rate centre is Bell Ontario.

LATA — Where a call stops being local

Local Access and Transport Area — the region a call is routed within before it becomes long-haul. The boundaries date from the 1984 Bell System breakup and still shape how calls are routed and rated. A LATA is three digits, though some rate centres are published with a two-digit sub-code appended, shown here as 460.17. Browse every LATA.

LIR — The Canadian equivalent, roughly

Local Interconnection Region — how Canadian carriers divide territory for exchanging traffic. It only applies in Canada, so this field is blank on every US record by definition rather than by omission.

Switch / CLLI — The equipment serving the block

The telephone switch a block is routed through, named by its CLLI code — an eleven-character identifier where the first characters encode the place, as in TOROON01DS0 for Toronto. A switch typed POI is a point of interconnection, where carriers hand traffic to each other rather than serve subscribers directly.

Overlay and split — The two ways to add an area code

A split divides a region and gives part of it a new code, so existing numbers change. An overlay adds a code on top of the same territory, so nobody has to change a number — but everyone has to dial ten digits, since two numbers in the same place can now differ only by area code. 786 overlaid 305 in 1998; 941 split from 813 in 1995.

One limitation worth knowing. All of this describes the block a number was issued from. Number portability means a number can be carried to another carrier while keeping its digits, so the carrier shown is the carrier of record for the block, not necessarily whoever serves that specific line today. Nothing in this data can tell you which — only a live portability lookup can.