*“612†was the original three-digit telephone numbering code (Area Code) for the middle one-third of Minnesota. The North American Numbering Plan established the area code system in 1947 and it was implemented by
AT&T, then
the telephone monopoly in America, in order to facilitate the direct dialing of long distance telephone calls. “612†was originally one of only eighty-six such codes…today there are over 300, about half of which have been added in the past four years.Â
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Prior to the implementation of the area code system, an operator was needed to complete long distance calls. In Minnesota, the first customer-dialed calls using the 612 area code rather than an operator began in 1958. In the mid-1990’s, due to the increasing demand for business and residential telephone services and the widespread use of multiple phone lines for households, fax machines, cell phones, pagers, voice-mail, computer modems, and the world-wide web, it became necessary to subdivide area codes throughout the country.Â
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