What are the different parts of a phone number?

Question

Like you have area code lets say, (809) then you have numbers like (555) then a dash then just say (5555)

What are the three parts of the phone number?

Answer 1

Area code - Regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), area codes are used to designate a specific geographic region, such as a city or part of a state. In the example of HowStuffWorks, the geographic location is the middle section of the state of North Carolina.

Prefix - The prefix originally referred to the specific switch that a phone line connected to. Each switch at a phone carrier's central office had a unique three-digit number. With the arrival of computerized switches, many systems now allow local number portability (LNP). This means that a customer's phone number can be moved to another switch without having to change any part of it, including the prefix, as long as the customer does not move out of the local-rate area. For example, HowStuffWorks moved into new offices in the summer of 2000, but our main phone number did not change. Therefore, our prefix of 882 is not on a specific 882 switch anymore, but our telephone-service provider, Intermedia Communications Incorporated (ICI), is using LNP so that we did not have to change our number.

Line number - This is the number assigned at the switch level to the phone line that you are using. Since the number is assigned to the line and not to the phone itself, you can easily change phones or add more phones to the same line.

Answer 2

The area code which is specific to the region you are calling, Birmingham is for example (0121).

The prefix and the Line number.