Area code 562

Map of California numbering plan areas (blue) and border states. Area code 562 is shown in red.

Area code 562 is a California telephone area code that was split from area code 310 on January 25, 1997. It is the area code for much of southeastern Los Angeles County, California, and parts of northern Orange County, California.

History

Prior to November 2, 1991; this region had been part of area code 213. On that date, most of the western and southern portions of the old 213 region became area code 310. On January 25, 1997, the southern portion of the old 310 territory split again to become the 562 area code.

562 was originally meant to be an overlay code exclusively for cellular telephones and pagers for existing 310 area code customers in late 1995. However, the overlay (and all others in CA for years to come) was cancelled after cellular companies sued the California Public Utilities Commission to prevent a repeat of a similar split in New York City, where all 212 & 718 mobile customers were changed over to a new 917 NPA. Cellular technology was relatively new, and the industry argued that separate area codes for cellular customers created a stigma and would hurt sales as people wanted their home and cell phone numbers to be in the same area code. After years in court, the CPUC sided with the cellular industry, and so plans were made to split 310 instead.^[1]

County anomaly

One anomaly in this area code is that all of it is in Los Angeles County except for the cities of Seal Beach and Los Alamitos, which are in the very northwest corner of the Orange County coastline, portions of the city of La Habra, and the very small and northwest part of the city of Brea in the very northwest corner of inland Orange County. These exceptions could exist because, at the time of 310's creation, Pacific Bell (now AT&T Inc.) was the primary telephone company for most of Southern California, whereas this region's primary telephone company was GTE (now Verizon). In fact, when this region was originally split from the 213 area code to become the 310 area code, Pacific Bell, being the primary local telephone company for this area (and had authority to decide what codes stayed in 213 and which ones moved), chose to move all of GTE's area code 213 exchanges into the 310 area code.

Cities and neighborhoods in the 562 area code

See also

• List of California area codes
• List of NANP area codes
• North American Numbering Plan

References

External links

• North American Numbering Plan Administration
• Southern California area code map

• NANPA Area Code Map of California
• List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload.com, 562 Area Code
• Area 562 Directory

Coordinates: 33°54′N 118°06′W / 33.9°N 118.1°W / 33.9; -118.1