We have worked hard to make it easy for the Area Decoder to understand what you are trying to find, and to do everything it can to find it. The query text you enter can take many different forms; a city name, a city name and a country or region name (to narrow your search), and dial codes in any format you can think of.

If you don't know how to spell the place you're looking for, the database will do its best to find all possible matches using an advanced approximate matching technique, similar to the technology the Google(tm) search engine uses.

The New Area Decoder takes output organization and readability to new levels. You can interactively hide pieces of information that you aren't interested in. We encourage you to use this feature for printing or displaying only what you need. Simply click on the [-] (minus) sign next to the section title, like country matches. All of these output sections are color coded, so you can quickly find what you're looking for.

When you search for a local exchange, such as (213)-630, you get a detailed history of all splits in that area code. This is useful if you need to get in touch with someone after their area code has changed due to an area code split; a procedure the phone company uses to add new telephone numbers to an area that is growing in population and telephone subscribers.

You also get information on the owner of the central office code, and the type of code it is registered as. A cellular phone prefix will show up with the cellular company, and one of the various cellular phone service types. Often the owner will simply be the regional local exchange carrier.

The area code match section lists the major cities found in this area code, as well as the creation/activation date, current time, and a link to the area code map. Area codes and local exchanges are listed for The United States, Canada, and The Carribean.

We also include area code maps, with clickable/zoomable insets, for area code and state matches. A Canadian area code map is also available.

You can view this map by clicking the State area code map link from the State or the Area Code output sections. You must have javascript enabled for this to work.

The new area decoder provides a lot more information for cities you look up. If you look up a city and there are more than two matches found, you're presented with a list of names and regions, along with the area code and the current time in that city. We thought this would be what most people are interested in. You can look up cities by their name, or their dial code.

If you click on one of the names in the list mentioned above, you get more detailed information on that city. This more detailed format is also displayed when there are less than three cities found.

When available, you're presented with a list of nearby cities, their distance and direction. If there are any vartiations on the name, those are presented as well.

Detailed information presented for each city includes the following:
• The name of the City, it's region name (state name for US cities), and sub region name (county name for US cities).
• The cities dial code.
• A list of major nearby cities along with their distance and direction, to help you visualize the city's relative location.
• A list of alternate names or spellings.
• The city's time zone, and current time.

If you look up a country name, or a country code, or you include a country or region name along with the city you're searching for, you're presented with detailed information on that country or region.

Included is a list of country name variants, calling rates, the top 5 populated cities for the country and the associated dialing codes along with a list of all the country's time zones and the current time for each. A currency exchange rate calculator and a telecommunications assessment is also included, provided courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency's CIA factbook.

Detailed information presented for each country match includes the following:
• The country name (long form), flag, and abbreviation.
• The country dial code.
• A list of alternate names and spellings.
• Telephone calling rates provided by AmeriCom for that country.
• A list of major populated cities and their dial code.
• A list of time zone's for the country, and their current time.
• Currency exchange rate information (in US Dollars).
• A country telecom assessment, provided by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA FactBook).

The state matches list the area codes, date the area code was created and top 10 major cities per area code. There is also a link to view the state area code map.

Detailed information presented for each state match includes the following:
• The state name, flag, and abbreviation.
• An area code map for that state
• A list of area codes, and major populated cities in those area codes.