Area code 319

Area code 319 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the southeastern and east-central parts of the U.S. state of Iowa.

Numbering plan areas of Iowa with the red area indicating area code 319

Major cities in the numbering plan area (NPA) include Burlington, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Oelwein, Fort Madison, Iowa City, Keokuk, Mount Pleasant, and Waterloo.

When the first nationwide numbering plan was implemented in 1947, despite its relatively low population, Iowa was divided into three numbering plan areas (NPAs), with each border line running roughly in north-south directions.

Area code 319 was assigned to the eastern part, and stretched along the entire border with Wisconsin and Illinois. By the end of the 20th century, the available telephone number pool was depleting rapidly because of the increase in mobile devices, demand for telephone lines for computer equipment, FAX machines, and other services. In late 2000 it was announced that a new area code 563 would be assigned to northeastern Iowa. Cell phone service providers advocated an overlay plan, so that it would not require reconfiguration of all cell phones in the area.

However, overlays were still a relatively new concept at the time, and were met with considerable resistance due to the requirements for ten-digit dialing and mixing of area codes within the same area. In the end, the administrative decision was to implement a geographic split, in which the northeastern portion of the numbering plan area, including Bettendorf, Clinton, Davenport, Decorah, Dubuque and Eldridge, received area code 563. The new numbering plan configuration became operational in March 2001, and the new dialing procedures were mandatory as of December 2001.