Area codes 706 and 762

[1] The Yatesville rate center shares a small border with 770 to the north, but is almost surrounded by 478 to the south, east, and west.

The major section of 706 wraps around from Rome in northwest Georgia, east through the mountains past Dahlonega, meeting its narrowest point at Toccoa, then broadening south to Athens and Augusta.

When the North American Numbering Plan was created in 1947, the entire state of Georgia was assigned area code 404.

BellSouth and the Georgia Public Service Commission knew that due to Atlanta's explosive growth, 404 was still on the brink of exhaustion even after the creation of 706.

However, the return of the southern exurbs forced the GPSC to put 770 into service in 1995, a few years sooner than planned.

[3] The 706/762 overlay serves the following counties: Banks, Burke (part with area code 478), Chattooga, Catoosa, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Columbia, Dade, Dawson, Elbert, Fannin, Franklin, Floyd, Gilmer, Glascock, Gordon, Greene, Habersham, Hancock, Harris, Hart, Heard, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson (part with area code 478), Jenkins, Lincoln, Lumpkin, Madison, McDuffie, Meriwether, Morgan, Murray, Muscogee, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Putnam, Rabun, Richmond, Stephens, Talbot, Taliaferro, Towns, Troup, Union, Upson (part with area code 478), Walker, Warren, White, Whitfield, and Wilkes