02381 Numbers

In the UK, an 02381 number is a normal landline phone number within the Southampton and Portsmouth (023) area code.

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

023, 0238 or 02381?

There is no 02381 area code. Since the year 2000, Southampton has had the three-digit area code 023, followed by eight-digit local numbers beginning with '8'.

Nearby Portsmouth also uses the 023 area code, with its eight-digit local numbers beginning with '9'.

The correct way to write a number beginning '02381' is (023) 81xx 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, Southampton's area code changed from 01703 to 023, while its old six-digit local phone numbers were prefixed with '80' to make them eight digits long.

For example, (01703) 833000 became (023) 8083 3000. 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 Southampton and Portsmouth nearly 80 million numbers: (023) 20000000 to (023) 99899999. Prior to the change, fewer than 800,000 were available in each city: (01703) 200000 to (01703) 998999 for Southampton and (01705) 200000 to (01705) 998999 for Portsmouth.