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Area code changes coming

LEWISTOWN — Starting Aug. 26, your fingers will be doing a bit more walking when you make a phone call in the 717 area code.

That’s the day 10-digit dialing begins, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission decided this week.

The change is part of the groundwork for the introduction of an overlay area code — 223 — that could be in use as early as September.

Beginning with the August change, all numbers dialed will have to include an area code — even the house next door. So, for example, The Sentinel’s number will no longer be 248-6741 for local callers, it will be (717) 248-6741.

This largely applies only to land line users; cellular phones have always required 10-digit dialing.

Residents and businesses in the 16-county area covered by 717 will be able to request and receive numbers in that area code as long as they are available.

The groundwork for the change was laid more than 15 years ago, shortly after 717 was split in 1998 and area code 570 was created. That area code — which serves readers in Snyder County — previously gained an overlay (area code 272) and 10-digit dialing was mandated in 2013.

But a decision by the PUC to change the way it allocates exchanges — the three digits after the area code (such as 248-xxxx) — allowed 717 to stay the course, one of only two area codes in Pennsylvania to remain independent (814 is the other).

By 2010, the PUC determined 717, which is one of Pennsylvania’s four original area codes, would run out of numbers no later than 2018. Last October, the 223 overlay was approved after discussion and hearings as to whether an overlay or a split was the better option.

Because of the difficulties involved with splitting an area code — and the high cost for businesses — the PUC accepted the overlay recommendation.

The need for phone numbers is tied to the increased use of mobile phones and other devices that use phone numbers. For example, a tablet computer (e.g., iPad) requires a phone number to be connected to a cellular network.

It is projected that, after the overlay, there will be sufficient numbers in 717/223 to last nearly 70 years. Each area code can support a little more than 7.9 million phone numbers.

With this change, only one area code in Pennsylvania remains independent — 814, which stretches from Erie to Johnstown and includes Huntingdon and Centre counties. It is expected that, within two to three years, it will need to be split or overlaid.

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