NPA 500

NPA (Area code) 500 is used in the USA for “Personal Numbering”

Most of us have known that over the past five-plus years, the use of SAC-NPA 500 and SAC-NPA 900 service has declined. The only two “major” US carriers/telcos that ever used 500 “Personal Numbering” service when it first started circa 1994/95 were AT&T and MCI. Both of them did “seem” to truly use their 500-NXX codes to provide “personal portable numbering” services, while most of the OTHER carriers/telcos/service-providers/ etc. either had their 500-NXX codes assigned but never activated/utilized them for anything, or else they were used as a “backdoor” way for sleaze/scam/etc. PAY-PAY-PAY-per-call, a-la-900 (and local “special” c.o.code 976) has been.

Sometime around 1998 or so, MCI and AT&T vacated 500 service altogether, returning their previously assigned 500-NXX codes back to NANPA (I don’t remember if NANPA was still Bellcore-now-Telcordia, or if it had already been turned over to Lockheed-Martin-IMS/CIS prior to becoming Neustar).

I took a look at the current NANPA page of 500-NXX assignments:

I see that VeriZon Wireless (Cellco Partnership) has the vast bulk of assigned 500-NXX codes. There are various other telcos/carriers/service providers/etc. with 500-NXX codes as well, but NOTHING anymore (nor for some time) assigned to AT&T (LD) or MCI (LD). I don’t think that (US)Sprint-LD had ever requested assignment of 500-NXX codes back in the mid/late 1990s though. There have been 500-NXX codes assigned to Canadian entities, and several additional 500-NXX codes were reserved by NANPA for “future Canadian use”, i.e., they were sort-of “assigned” to the CNAC for them to assigned as needed in the future to specific Canadian telco entities. However, 500 service was NEVER activated for use in Canada even though certain specific Canadian entities had 500-NXX
codes assigned. In 1991, the Canadian telco industry at the request of the CNAC/CSCN/CNAC/whatever, “returned” to NANPA, ALL assigned and “generic reserved” 500-NXX codes associated with Canada.

Anyhow, I did not count the number of currently NANPA-assigned 500-NXX codes though. There are other documents available throughout NANPA’s website which would indicate a “rough” count/total/tally of 500-NXX codes assigned.

Mark J. Cuccia
mcuccia(at)tulane(dot)edu
New Orleans LA CSA
November 2004