Area code 803, Telephone prefix in central South Carolina, US.
Area code 803 is a telephone prefix serving the central portion of South Carolina in the United States, covering cities such as Columbia, Aiken, Camden, Florence, and Sumter. This prefix connects both urban centers and rural communities across multiple counties in the middle part of the state.
This prefix was introduced in October 1947 as one of the original North American area codes and initially covered all of South Carolina. In 1995, the territory was divided, leaving the prefix to serve only the central part of the state.
The central region prefix 803 represents a communication link between educational institutions, businesses, and residential communities throughout South Carolina's metropolitan areas.
All calls within this region require ten-digit dialing, meaning you must include the area code before the local number even when calling within the same territory. This change was introduced after the overlay prefix 839 was added to the same geographic area.
In 2020, the overlay prefix 839 was introduced for the same geographic area, allowing new telephone numbers to use either prefix. This addition made ten-digit dialing mandatory for all calls in the region, regardless of whether they are local or cover longer distances.
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