Start the 10-Digit Dialing Now!

The bad (or more accurately slightly inconvenient) news is that those in the 317 area code are soon going to have to dial three more numbers. The very good news is that consumers are not required to change their existing numbers.

To ease the inconvenience, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor urge callers to start their 10-digit dialing practices now. The new process will become mandatory on September 17 of this year.

The new 463 area code will be implemented in an overlay with the existing 317 area code. A similar 812/930 overlay took place in Southern Indiana last year. The change is necessitated by the projected exhaustion of 317 number combinations later this year.

This IURC/OUCC release has all the details.

Dialing Change Coming Early in 2015

119905820We, and many others, have told you about the new area code coming to the southern third of our state. The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, and its IN 812 industry group, prepared the following update (including effective dates and equipment upgrade procedures, if necessary) for Indiana Chamber members and the broader community.

To ensure a continuing supply of telephone numbers, the new 930 area code will be added to the area served by 812. The new 930 area code will serve the same geographic area currently served by the existing 812 area code, which generally covers the southern third of the state of Indiana serving communities such as Bloomington, Columbus, Evansville, New Albany and Terre Haute. This is known as an area code overlay.

What is an area code overlay?
An overlay is the addition of another area code (930) to the same geographic region as an existing area code (812). An overlay does not require customers to change their existing area code.

How does this affect Chamber members?
As a result of the overlay, a new local dialing procedure requires callers to dial area code + telephone number. This means that all local calls in the 812 area code that are currently dialed with seven digits will need to be dialed using area code + telephone number.

Chamber members that have services and equipment currently located in the 812 area code and programmed to dial only seven digits must be updated or reprogrammed to dial area code + telephone number for all calls in the 812/930 area code.

What will be the new dialing procedure?
To complete local calls, the new dialing procedure requires callers to dial area code + telephone number. This means that all calls in the 812 area code that are currently dialed with seven digits will need to be dialed using area code + telephone number. The same dialing procedure will apply to telephone numbers assigned to the new 930 area code.

When will the change begin?
Beginning February 7, 2015, you must use the new dialing procedures, as described above for all calls. After this date, if you do not use the new dialing procedures, your calls will not be completed and a recording will instruct you to hang up and dial again.

Reprogramming of alarm equipment should take place between March 1, 2014 and February 7, 2015. This period allows either the old or new dialing procedure to be used to complete calls. All chamber members must make their programming changes during this period.

To enable you to verify that equipment can complete calls to the new 930 area code, a special test number, 930-930-1930, will be in service beginning July 7, 2014 and it will remain active through April 7, 2015.

Beginning March 7, 2015, new telephone lines or services may be assigned numbers using the new 930 area code.

What will remain the same?
• Your telephone number, including current area code, will not change.
• The price of a call, coverage area, or other rates and services will not change due to the overlay.
• What is a local call now will remain a local call regardless of the number of digits dialed.
• You can still dial just three digits to reach 911.
• If 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, 711 or 811 are currently available in your community, you will still dial these codes with just three digits.

Who may you contact with questions?
Customers with questions about the dialing procedure change should be directed to their local service provider, or they can visit the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) web site.

Time to Talk Area Code Changes

FIt must be a sign of advancing age that I fondly recall the days of three area codes that covered the state of Indiana. Today, that number is six with a seventh set to go into effect next month and public field hearings underway now on 317 area code relief.

Indiana had three telephone area codes (219 for the north, 317 for Central Indiana and 812 in the south) from the mid-1950s until the mid-1990s.

Today, the state has six area codes with a seventh to go into effect in October 2014.

Technology brought pagers, fax machines, wirelese phones and more. The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor says efforts to conserve existing number supplies and prolong the life spans of area codes have been successful, but the only way to provide new numbers in the long run has been to introduce new area codes.

The number of area codes throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean has more than doubled since 1995, with Indiana, 38 other states and eight of the 10 Canadian provinces adding new area codes.

The 317 area code was changed in 1996 with the addition of 765. Now, 317 is projected to run out of numbers in 2017. A hearing took place in Indianapolis last Friday. Four more are scheduled in Carmel (October 1), Franklin (October 14), Danville (October 29) and Greenfield (December 1).

An overlay method is being proposed. A similar procedure is being implemented in the current 812 area code with the new 930 coming into play yet this year.

Full details, including additional opportunities to submit comments.

812 Area Code Changes on the Way

It doesn't seem that long ago that communications in our state was defined by the following trio of three-set numbers: 219, 317 and 812. I was an 812 guy as a younngster, having grown up in St. Leon (near the Ohio border and Cincinnati), and later switched to 317 during college and early working years.

But it's been a full 17 years since the first expansion of Indiana's three area codes. Geographic splits took place in 1996 (765 was added in the former 317 territory) and 2001 (219 in the north saw a three-way divide with 574 and 260 coming into play). Now it's Southern Indiana's turn. The 812 area code was originally forecasted to run out of numbers in 2004, but conservation efforts put off the inevitable until the current projection of 2015.

For those "812ers," it's time to weigh in. Geographic splits have been replaced by "overlays" in many instances. Overlays allow everyone to keep current phone numbers but requires 10-digit dialing for local calls. The geographic split keeps the seven-digit local dialing but would require many to switch to numbers with a new area code.

The first of 10 public hearings throughout the region takes place Monday in Terre Haute. Other locations are Bloomington, Jeffersonville, Evansville, Vincennes, Bedford, Springs Valley, St. Meinrad, North Vernon and St. Leon. Comments can also be submitted by various other methods.

The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor has all the details on the meeting and much more. Check out the informative web page.