Area code 708

Area code 708 at a glance

708 is one of 17 geographic area codes serving Illinois; NANPA records its in-service date as November 11, 1989. It is an overlay: 708 and 464 cover the same territory, so neighbors on the same street can have different area codes. It is in the Central time zone. The places with the most assigned exchanges include La Grange, Chicago Heights, Blue Island, Roselle, and Maywood. By population, its largest named places are Wheeling, Thornton, Orland, Cicero, and Oak Lawn.

Where 708 numbers are local

708 holds 8.7% of the 8,977 central office codes assigned in Illinois, the 8th most of the state's 17 codes. 33 Census places could be matched to rate centers with 708 exchanges; the most populous are Wheeling (154,000), Thornton (153,000), Orland (96,553), and Cicero (82,090). Each place page lists the exact prefixes and carriers for that town.

How calls are dialed in 708

According to NANPA's dialing-plan data, local calls within 708 are dialed as 1 plus ten digits and toll calls as 1 plus ten digits. Because local calls need the area code, business cards, signage and website copy should always show the full ten-digit number.

Carriers with 708 numbers

27 carriers hold the 784 central office codes assigned in 708. Illinois Bell Tel CO has the most, with 178 (23%). 550 of the codes (70%) are pooled, meaning the code holder shares blocks of 1,000 numbers with other carriers instead of using all 10,000 itself. The code holder is not necessarily the carrier serving a given number today, since numbers can be ported between providers.

Where 708 numbers are rated

NANPA assigns each central office code to a rate center, the local calling area that decides whether a call is local or toll. 708 has codes in 37 rate centers. Rate center names in the file are abbreviations; where one matches a Census place, the table links to that city's local-number page.

How full is area code 708?

An area code has 800 possible central office codes that start with 2 through 9, a few of which are reserved (such as N11 service codes and 555). 784 are assigned in 708, 98% of 800. 42 were assigned in 2020 or later.

Getting a 708 number for your business

For $99 a month, Callata puts a team of up to 5 on one plan ($20 for each person after that): up to 3 local numbers, unlimited inbound calls, a pooled allowance of 1,500 outbound US and Canada minutes per user, browser and cell calling, voicemail transcription with urgency triage, recorded calls with AI summaries and business-hours routing, with E911 on every number.

Porting a number you already use in area code 708 is free, and business texting is available once the carrier registration (10DLC) is approved; the registration carries a one-time $49 fee. Which specific numbers are open in a given area code depends on carrier inventory at the time you sign up.

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