Area code 863
Area code 863 is located in Florida and was split from 941 in 1999. It is referred to as the coastal counties area code.
The counties located in the area code are De Soto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Okeechobee and Polk.
All in cities in the 863 area code are Alturas, Arcadia, Auburndale, Avon Park, Babson Park, Bowling Green, Bradley, Clewiston, Davenport, Dundee, Eagle Lake, Eaton Park, Fedhaven, Felda, Fort Meade, Fort Ogden, Frostproof, Haines City, Highland City, Homeland, Indian Lake Estates, Kathleen, Labelle, Lake Alfred, Lake Hamilton, Lake Placid, Lake Wales, Lorida, Loughman, Moore Haven, Mulberry, Nalcrest, Nichols, Nocatee, Okeechobee, Ona, Palmdale, Polk city, River Ranch, Sebring, Venus, Wauchula, Waverly and Zolfo Springs.
AT&T and Bell Laboratories developed the area code system in the 1940’s. They put the area code system into effect in 1947. This system included the United States and Canada and was named the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). When the system was first used there were only 86 are codes. When the area codes were issued to the different areas they wanted to be able to tell which areas had more than one area code assigned to them. The way this was tracked was by the middle number in the area code. For example Florida was assigned one area code at the time so it was given 305. The zero told the company that there was only one area code in Florida. When New York City was assigned area codes for the first time they received two. In order to keep track that there was more than one area code assigned the second digit was made a 1.
Some of the major businesses in the area code are The Vanguard School, Hillcrest Elementary School, Heartland Christian School, Union Tank Car Company, Hardee Car Company, Allstate Insurance, State Farm Insurance, Heartland Insurance Inc, Southern Insurance Agency, Sprint, Radio Shack, AT&T Store, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile.
Area code 305 was the original area code for the entire state of Florida. In 1953 area code 813 was split and was for the western part of the peninsula. In 1965, Northern Florida was assigned area code 904. Then in 1988 the east coast of Florida was given area code 407. In 1995 there was a split from area code 305 and area code 954 was assigned to Broward County. Then in 1998, area code 786 was released to help with the demand of phone lines in the Miami area.
Florida is 65, 795 square miles which ranks 22nd for area in the US. It has a population of 18.5 million people which ranks 4th in the US. Population density is 338.4 square miles which ranks as the 8th largest in the US.