Many area codes assigned to a numbering plan area (NPA) are becoming exhausted because of the growth of call tracking and increased demand for phone numbers for businesses, cellphones, fax machines, or pagers. When an area code becomes exhausted, this means that there are no longer any new phone numbers available to be assigned and an alternative overlay area code should be used instead when purchasing a call tracking number for that business. This article will guide you through finding a replacement area code when you encounter the error message at step 3 of buying a NinjaTrack number if there are no local numbers found for your destination number:

Finding a replacement area code

If there are no local numbers available for your destination number, first consult the following list of area code overlays to see if the area code of your destination number is in this list.  For example, the area code 212 has been overlaid with 332, 646, and 917 area codes.  

If there is an overlay area code for your destination number, in the top-left quadrant, type in that number in the text box under the words "Area Code" then click on the blue Change Area Code button to search for that overlay area code:

You may notice a warning label that states: Warning: Numbers may not be local to [your destination phone number].  In the case of using an overlay area code, you should always check the first 6 digits of the tracking number against the first 6 digits of your destination number to ensure that placing a call from one location to the other is still considered to be a local call.

The following Local Calling Guide is a handy reference to use to verify that your tracking number and your destination number are in the same rate center: 

https://localcallingguide.com/lca_rcdist.php?npa1=212&nxx1=321&npa2=332&nxx2=219

In the above example, the business phone number of 212-321-4567 is being compared to the potential tracking number of 332-219-7835 by entering "212-321" as the "From NPA-NXX" for the first number, and 332-219 as the "To NPA-NXX" for the second. In the mid-right section of the screen on this page, the very last column of the table indicates either a 'Y' or an 'N' as to whether the two phone numbers are local to each other. In the case above, there is a 'Y' in this column, so that means that the proposed tracking number would be a good choice.

If all of the above options have been exhausted and you are unable to find a local area code to track calls to your client's business, then the final option would be to use a toll-free number instead to track calls to your client's business.