272 named new overlay area code for 570

Published: July 31, 2010

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By David Falchek

The state Public Utility Commission announced the area code overlay for the 570 region will be 272.

The move will require that people dial 10 digits for all local phone calls as new phones are issued 272 numbers once capacity for 570 numbers are exhausted. That is expected to occur sometime next year.

The North American Numbering Plan Administrator selected the three digits expected to come into use sometime in 2011. Later in the year, 10-digit dialing will begin following a several month permissive period when such dialing will not be required.

The proliferation of individual phone numbers at businesses and among cell phone users has depleted numbers in several area codes at a faster rate. Increasingly, federal and stage agencies have opted to have new area codes overlay existing area codes rather than splitting area codes into smaller sections, requiring the issuing of new numbers. The plan approved by the PUC will not require changing any of the existing numbers within the 570 area code.

There are more than 300 million cell phones in the U.S., said telecommunications analyst Jeff Kagan. Cable operators and voice-over-internet providers who provide phone service also add to number demand.

Kagan is based in Atlanta which has three area codes. He has been dialing 10 digits for more than a decade.

"Welcome to the 21st Century," he quipped. "Seven-digit dialing has become quaint."

It's unlikely anyone will get repetitive stress disorder from the added work. Despite the trend toward overlay area codes, people are actually dialing fewer numbers these days, Kagan said.

"Our commonly used numbers are programmed into our cell phones or on speed dial and when we dial a strange number we have it in front of us," he said. "So it's not like you will have to remember all these new numbers."

In July the commission voted 5-0 to approve the overlay plan, which members felt would be the least disruptive to the public.

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