Area code 910


Area code 910 is an area code serving southeastern North Carolina, including the cities of Wilmington, Jacksonville, Laurinburg, Lumberton and Fayetteville.
Area code 910 was established in 1993 as a split from area code 919, and was the state's first new area code in 39 years. Originally, it covered a fan-shaped region in the southeastern and north-central portions of the state, including the Piedmont Triad, the Sandhills, and the southeastern coast. The two parts were only connected by a tendril in the Sandhills.
Within only three years, 910 was already on the brink of exhaustion due to rapid growth in the Triad, Wilmington and Fayetteville, as well as the proliferation of cell phones and pagers. On December 15, 1997, area code 336 was created for the Triad and most of the old 910 territory's western portion. Normally, when an area code is split, the more populated portion keeps the old area code–in this case, the Triad. However, it was decided to let the southeastern portion of the state keep 910.

Prior usage for TWX

Area code 910 was originally designated for one of three US regional numbering plan areas for the former AT&T Corporation TWX network, sold to Western Union in 1969 and renamed as Telex II. It covered every US point west of the Mississippi River.
The original TWX area codes were 510 in the US and 610 in Canada. The addition of 710 in the Northeast, 810 in MI OH IN and most of the South and 910 west of the Mississippi allowed each major city one or more local exchange prefixes in the special numbering plan area. The service operated at 110 bit per second transmission rates on Bell 101 modems and mechanical teletypewriters.
The special US TWX area codes were decommissioned in 1981; Canada moved its remaining 610-numbers to area code 600 in 1992.