Geographic number

A geographic number is tied to an area: in France, prefixes 01 to 05 map to the major regions; in North America, the area code identifies the city or state. Historically this attachment was physical — copper ran from the exchange to the home; with VoIP it became purely administrative: you can operate a Paris number from Lyon, Montreal, or Lisbon.

Its value for a local business is social as much as technical: a local number says "I'm from here." Callers trust a familiar area code more, and spam filters penalize old local numbers less. It's also an asset to keep: a geographic number held for ten years is a commercial address, portable to any carrier — always verify that portability before switching.