Get a local business phone number in Forest, MS

What area code is Forest, MS?

Forest city is a Census place in Scott County, Mississippi, with an estimated 5,364 residents in 2024. NANPA lists 14 exchanges for its rate center across 2 area codes; 601 has the most (11, 79%). 601 is part of an overlay with 769, so a new local number in Forest may carry any of those codes depending on which have numbers available. Forest is in the Central time zone.

According to NANPA's dialing-plan data, local calls within 601 are dialed as ten digits (area code plus number) and toll calls as 1 plus ten digits.

Who holds Forest phone exchanges

8 carriers hold the 14 exchanges assigned to Forest's rate center. Powertel Memphis Licenses, INC. has the most, with 3. 10 of them are pooled codes, which the holder shares with other carriers in blocks of 1,000 numbers. Holding a code means NANPA assigned that block of numbers to the carrier for this rate center; individual numbers may since have been ported elsewhere.

Forest phone prefixes

Each prefix below is a block of up to 10,000 numbers that NANPA assigned to Forest's rate center (FOREST). The earliest assignment date recorded in the file for these codes is 2002. 1 of the 14 were assigned in 2020 or later.

When Forest's exchanges were assigned

The table groups Forest's exchanges by the decade NANPA recorded them as assigned.

How local numbers work in Forest

NANPA ties every exchange to a rate center. For Forest that is FOREST, so a number from one of these exchanges reads as local to people in and around Forest.

Keeping an existing Forest number costs nothing on Callata, because porting is free; a new number depends on what carriers have open in 601 when you pick it.

Who does business near Forest

Forest is part of the Jackson, MS metro area, home to 606,000 people in 2024. County Business Patterns counted 14,359 business establishments in the Jackson, MS metro area in 2023, employing 230,566 people. The largest sectors by establishment count are retail trade (2,303), health care and social assistance (1,794), and other services (except public administration) (1,484).

Setting up a Forest business line

Callata Office costs $99 per month for up to 5 people, and each additional user is $20 a month. That covers up to 3 local numbers, calling from a browser or your cell, transcribed voicemail, recorded calls with AI summaries, after-hours routing and E911 on each number.

Porting a number you already use in Forest 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.

AI agents are optional: an AI receptionist or scheduler can pick up when the team is busy or closed, take a message, send a text or email, or transfer the call. They draw on prepaid AI minutes ($0.25/minute), disclose that they are AI, and outbound AI calls require prior consent and are limited to 8am–9pm.

Per-seat phone plans multiply by headcount. For the rounded average establishment size in the Jackson, MS metro area, 16 users on RingCentral RingEX Core come to $480.00 a month and on Ooma Office Pro $399.20, at month-to-month list prices checked September 28, 2026. Callata comes to $319.00 a month for 16 users ($99 a month with 5 users included, then $20 per additional user), below both.