Area codes 540 and 826

Area code 540 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the north-western region of the U.S. State of Virginia, including the Shenandoah Valley, the Roanoke metropolitan area, the northern and eastern parts in Virginia of the New River Valley, and the outermost parts of the Washington metropolitan area. The Virginia State Corporation Commission has authorized the addition of area code 826 to the numbering plan area for implementation in June 2022.

The area colored red indicates the northern region of Virginia served by area code 540

History

Area code 540 was established on July 15, 1995, when numbering plan area 703 was divided. Due to the continued growth of telecommunication services in the area, it was necessary to split 540 as well. On September 1, 2001, the farthest western region of Virginia was established as a separate numbering plan area with area code 276.

The pool of central office codes for the area code is projected to exhaust in 2022. For relief, the Virginia State Corporation Commission approved a plan in June 2020 to add area code 826 to form an all-services overlay. Implementation of the overlay is projected to be on June 14, 2022. This will make ten-digit dialing mandatory in the overlay area.[1]

Service area

The numbering plan area includes the communities of Bedford, Berryville, Blacksburg, Buchanan, Buena Vista, Cave Spring, Clifton Forge, Covington, Fincastle, Floyd, Fredericksburg, Front Royal, Greenville, Harrisonburg, Hot Springs, Lexington, Louisa, Luray, Madison, Mineral, Orange, Pulaski, Radford, Roanoke, Rocky Mount, Salem, Staunton, Warrenton, Little Washington, Waynesboro, and Winchester.

It serves the counties of Alleghany, Augusta, Bath, Botetourt, Clarke, Craig, Culpeper, Fauquier, Floyd, Franklin, Frederick, Giles, Highland, King George, Louisa, Madison, Montgomery, Orange, Page, Pulaski, Rappahannock, Roanoke, Rockingham, Rockbridge, Shenandoah, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Warren, as well as portions of Bedford County, and a small portion of Albemarle County consisting of Afton and Greenwood that is in a LATA served by Verizon landline service rather than CenturyLink. It also partially serves western Loudoun County, whereas most of the county is in the numbering plan area 703/571.

References
  1. laurence.hammack@roanoke.com 981-3239, Laurence Hammack. "Coming soon: New area code for Southwest Virginia". Roanoke Times. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
Virginia area codes: 276, 434, 540, 571/703, 757/948, 804
North: 304/681
West: 276, 304/681 540 East: 571/703, 240/301, 434
South: 434, 804
Maryland area codes: 240/301, 410/443/667
West Virginia area codes: 304/681
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