State New Jersey | ||
 | ||
Cities Cherry Hill, Camden, Vineland, Mount Laurel Township, Pennsauken Township | ||
Area code 856 is an area code located in the U.S. state of New Jersey created in 1999 by a split of area code 609. It covers southwestern New Jersey, especially the Camden/Cherry Hill and Vineland areas, as well as a very small part of Willingboro Township, along with the western part of Burlington County, while 609 covers the rest of Willingboro and the areas to the north and east. 856 is virtually coextensive with the New Jersey side of the Philadelphia metropolitan area.
History
Area code 201 was introduced in 1951 as the first area code to be assigned in the United States as part of the North American Numbering Plan, covering the entire state of New Jersey with a single area code. Until 1958, 201 was the only area code serving New Jersey; That year, the state split the area code, with the southern portion of the state becoming area code 609.
With the increasing demand for phone numbers needed for businesses, fax machines, pagers and cell phones, the 609 area code exhausted its capacity. The 856 area code was announced by Bell Atlantic in March 1999 and approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities shortly thereafter. The new area code 856 came into effect on June 12, 1999. For the following five months, permissive dialing was allowed, with calls completed even if area code 856 was not dialed as part of a 10-digit phone number. As of November 13, 1999, use of the area code was required to complete calls from outside the area code.