The numbering plan area (NPA) includes the cities or towns of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Williamsport, Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg, Pittston, Carbondale, Hazleton, Clarks Summit, Towanda, Bloomsburg, Sayre, Tunkhannock, Berwick, Milford, Montrose, Honesdale, Pocono Pines, Nanticoke, Tamaqua, Shavertown, Dallas, Mahanoy City, Sunbury, Jim Thorpe, and as far south as Pottsville and as far west as Lock Haven.
Area code 717 was assigned to the eastern half of Pennsylvania, excluding the Delaware and Lehigh Valleys.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) considered four options: an overlay plan and three configurations of dividing.
Two of the splits would have left Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, the two largest cities in the territory, with the same area code.
[1] On July 15, 2010, the PUC decided that the new area code, 272, would be implemented as an overlay.