New Area Code 463 - Mandatory 10-digit Dialing

[savageje]

Looks like mandatory 10-digit dialing is coming to my area (Central Indiana).  Boo.  I wonder how common that is nationwide?  The article also noted that the new area code spells "IND," presumably for "Indiana."  That seems kind of odd to me.  Neat, but odd.  Has anyone ever heard of that being done for new area codes before?

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2015/04/08/new-area-code-mandatory-digit-dialing-come-central-indiana/25472009/

[Tonyrotary]

They mention Chicago which is where I grew up having three area codes. Growing up there was only one, 312. Now that area code only covers downtown.

[LarryInMichigan]

They mention Chicago which is where I grew up having three area codes. Growing up there was only one, 312. Now that area code only covers downtown.

That us the city of Chicago.  The Chicago metropolitan area has at least seven others. 

Here in metro Detroit, we have had 10 or 11-digit dialing for years.  Calls within the immediate area require 10 digits (though 11 also works), but beyond that, a '1' has to be added to the beginning.  The '1' was needed for historical reasons but should not be necessary now, so I do not know why it is still required.  I think that all calls within the Chicago area require a '1' at the beginning.  About 10 years ago when I was in Miami, local calls required 10 digits, but adding a '1' to the beginning prevented the number from being accepted.  This can be quite confusing.

Larry

Larry

[Tonyrotary]

True the metropolitan areas had more area codes. I will have to ask my sister who lives in the suburbs there if they must dial 11 digits. I believe so.

[Greg G.]

True the metropolitan areas had more area codes. I will have to ask my sister who lives in the suburbs there if they must dial 11 digits. I believe so.

I have to dial 11 digits to call a town just a few miles north of me because it's a different area code, and if it's a different area code, I have to dial the 1 if I'm using my landline.  If I'm using my cell, then just 10 digits, but what fun is that?

[savageje]

My landline service is through Comcast, and not through the telephone company, so dialing long distance or another area code only requires 10 digits.  (The preceding "1" is not required.)  But 7-digit dialing also works for local numbers through this service. 

Slightly OT, but I also have to use a pulse-to-tone converter in order to use my rotary phones now, as Comcast dropped pulse dialing support in my area about a year ago.  That would have been an advantage of sticking with AT&T.   

[poplar1]

10- or 11- digit dialing is required by the FCC whenever there is an overlay of area codes, rather than a split.
Phone companies, and most customers, prefer an overlay because -- unlike a split -- no existing subscribers  have  to get a new area code; rather, only new numbers are assigned in the new area code.

The Atlanta metropolitan area now has four area codes for the local calling area, and mandatory 10-digit dialing. 404 was once the area code for the entire state. It was split into 404 for North GA and 912 for South GA early on. Then 404 split into 404 and 706, with most 706 calls being long distance from Atlanta. 404 again split into 404 (Atlanta and close in suburbs) and 770 (outside suburbs), still with 7-digit dialing. It was only when the new 678 area code was assigned as an overlay over both 404 and 770 that 10-digit dialing was mandatory.  (912 had a 3-way split: 912, 478 and 229.)

Actually, it was unnecessary to overlay 678 on both 404 and 770 at the same time, because only 770 was "exhausted" or out of numbers; so they could have left 404 alone, with 7 digit dialing for 404 (Atlanta and close in suburbs) and 10-digit dialing for a 770/678 overlay in the outer suburbs. The latest overlay for Atlanta calling area is 470.

Splits almost never happen these days, and overlays may cover several existing area codes.

[19and41]

7 digits in 1958 and now 10 in 2015.  They've been easy on you.

[skyrider]

I remember some time after Metro Atlanta went to 10 digit dialing going a  trouble report of cco (can't call out). I was able to make outgoing calls and after talking with the young couple found out they had just moved from a small town in Alabama and were still dialing 7 digits.   Bill Compton

[Phonesrfun]

No overlay where I am, and I feel fortunate that a local call is still only 7 digits.  I moved here from a city that has an overlay and it was tough to get used to at the time, and a pain.

[dsk]

Norway: 1992 was the year we all had to dial all the digits, our area codes disappeared and was replaced by new series. The number portability made it possible to keep the number when you moved from north to south, east to vest etc.  We kept our 5 last digits, now I have to dial 8 digits to the man next door, (or walk and knock on the door as before) 

dsk

[JimH]

I read that the area codes were issued according to population.  New York City got "212" because it was the least amount of "clicks" or pulses, being only 5.  Los Angeles got 213, or 6 clicks.  Chicago got 312, Detroit 313, and so on.  Originally, all of the area codes' middle digits could only be a 1 or a 0, so that the switching equipment could recognize it as an area code, and not a local prefix.  The reason they went to ten digit dialing is because we now have area codes that used to be local prefixes.

Jim

[Phonesrfun]

Jim:

It's more than the fact that there are area codes that are the same as prefixes.  As long as there are no prefixes within the same area code as the area code, you could still only dial 7 digits  For example, you would not want to have a 212 prefix within area code 212.

Many places in the country still only dial 7 digits.  It is the overlay issue that causes the need to dial all 10 digits.  For example, in the Portland, Oregon area you have 503 and 971 area codes sharing the same geographical area.  Two houses right next to each other can have different area codes.  That definitely requires 10 digit dialing.

You are absolutely correct, in that the more populated areas initially had a 1 as a middle digit and low numbers as the first and third digits.  Places that were relatively unpopulated had a zero for the middle digit and higher numbers as the first and third.  When I first heard of this logic, I was kind of confused at the validity of it, since within any area code, no matter how wide of a physical area, there are the same number of potential numbers within any given area code.  Then upon second thought, I guess that since area codes were at least all contained within a stat's boundary, there were some states that they thought would never get the maximum populations, for instance Wyoming. 

[savageje]

This has all been interesting discussion.  I wonder if technologically we're close to evolving to a point where the idea of area codes isn't really relevant anymore. Wouldn't it just make sense, in theory, to put the whole country on 10-digit dialing, and a sign any 10-digit number to any phone in any location?  Then the issue of running out of numbers all of the time seems to go away.

[unbeldi]

I read that the area codes were issued according to population.  New York City got "212" because it was the least amount of "clicks" or pulses, being only 5.  Los Angeles got 213, or 6 clicks.  Chicago got 312, Detroit 313, and so on.  Originally, all of the area codes' middle digits could only be a 1 or a 0, so that the switching equipment could recognize it as an area code, and not a local prefix.  The reason they went to ten digit dialing is because we now have area codes that used to be local prefixes.

Jim

The size logic was not much of a logic, because the size arguments ends pretty much after a handful of the large metro areas.
Same goes with the middle digit.  The only rule was that initially states with only one national plan area got the zero in the middle of the area code. States with multiple area codes got a 1.  New Jersey, despite being heavily populated, with suburban areas of both New York City and Philadelphia received the first area code, 201, with a zero in the middle.