Anyone, anywhere can now get a 212 area code -- for big bucks [telecom]

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By Natalie O'Neill, New York Post, December 21, 2013

| Anyone from the Deep South to the West Coast can now score the | once-exclusive 212 area code. | | New York wannabes from around the country can snag a | Manhattan-esque number for prices ranging from $100 to $15,000 | on the Web site 212areacode.com. | | Buyers are instructed to consult their cellphone carrier | companies to notify them of the change. They then pick from | dozens of available 212 phone numbers, paying for it online

| more than harder-to-remember ones. | | In March, the Internet phone provider Vonage launched a | petition asking the FCC to free up unused 212 numbers for | anyone nationwide. | | That irked actual New Yorkers who were stuck with less- | glamorous "464" or "347" codes. | | The Web site now claims to be perfectly legal, noting it's | "the ultimate source for a 212 area code."

Source:

Obviously, 464 was a typo -- 464 is a reserve assignment for future overlay on

Two other NYC area codes are not mentioned: 929 (overlay on 718/347) and 917 (overlay on all five boroughs).

Neal McLain

I can understand the idea as a source of stocking stuffers for what Jay Leno calls "The More Money Than Brains Club", but for serious use?

Sorry, my circuit breaker trips at that point. I doubt anyone who is in a /position/ to care /does/. The revolution is over, the Negroponte Switch is almost complete, and anyone who thinks a phone number in the "212" Area Code is special is likely to have one already.

The only people who /might/ be impressed are old, like me, and that means that they don't buy the things that someone who wants to claim some cachet from appearing to be in business in Manhattan is trying to sell.

YMMV.

Bill Horne Moderator