02393 Numbers

In the UK, an 02393 number is a normal landline phone number within the Portsmouth and Southampton (023) area code.

Any UK number beginning with 023 is a Portsmouth or Southampton number. The '023' area code at the beginning is optional if you're dialling from one 023 landline phone to another.

023, 0239 or 02393?

There is no 02393 area code. Since the year 2000, Portsmouth has had the three-digit area code 023, followed by eight-digit local numbers beginning with '9'.

Nearby Southampton also uses the 023 area code, with its eight-digit local numbers beginning with '8'.

The correct way to write a number beginning '02393' is (023) 93xx xxxx, as this clearly distinguishes the optional 023 area code from the eight digit local phone number. (Why this matters...)

Have things changed?

During the year 2000, Portsmouth's area code changed from 01705 to 023, while its old six-digit local phone numbers were prefixed with '92' to make them eight digits long.

For example, (01705) 822251 became (023) 9282 2251. The overall length of the number is the same, but dialling locally now needs eight digits to be dialled instead of six.

The new system gives Portsmouth and Southampton nearly 80 million numbers: (023) 20000000 to (023) 99899999. Prior to the change, fewer than 800,000 were available in each city: (01705) 200000 to (01705) 998999 for Portsmouth and (01703) 200000 to (01703) 998999 for Southampton.