Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway
From: cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Incorrect Use of Area Code 202
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Date: 14 Aug 89 21:01:34 GMT
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X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 296, message 4 of 8

I have seen 2 recent cases where area code 202 was used in front of a Maryland
number which has metro DC-area service but is beyond area 202 (they are only
in area 301). In one case, 202-621 was displayed on the back of a panel
truck.  In the other case, 202-261 was displayed in a fast-food restaurant in
an employment ad.

Both cases had other phone numbers displayed; the ones I singled out were
provided for callers from the Washington area.  I have seen 621, which is in
Laurel, used for this purpose by a few businesses in the Baltimore area.

Before DC-area prefixes were changed from NNX to NXX form, long-distance
dialing from 261 and 621 was 1+7D within Md., and 1+NPA+7D elsewhere.  (But in
Virginia, from 703-860, in Herndon and local to DC but toll to Md., you dialed
NPA+7D for all long distance, and Herndon metro-area prefixes 471 and 620
appear on phone bills as VIENNA and are in area code 202, not just 703.)