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New year will bring new area code
10-digit dialing begins Feb.28
tennessee

 

According to the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA), due to a sharp increase in the demand for numbers for wireless phones, computers, readers, security systems, fax machines and other communications devices, the availability of the (615) area code is nearly depleted, and will be completely used up during the second quarter of 2015.

 

New phone customers in DeKalb County and other parts of Middle Tennessee will be assigned a new (629) prefix beginning in the spring of 2015. The TRA voted earlier in the year to approve a new (629) area code after the existing numbers have all been assigned. Customers who currently have (615) numbers will not be affected under the plan.

 

While the change will apparently require 10-digit dialing for local calls in the (615) and the (629) area code, these calls will not be considered long distance. The TRA has approved what is called an “overlay plan,” meaning that a new prefix area will not created, new customers in the (615) area will simply receive the (629) prefix.

 

This means that all calls in the 615 area code that are currently dialed with seven digits will need to be dialed using the area code + telephone number. The same dialing procedure will apply to telephone numbers assigned to the new 629 area code.

 

Beginning February 28, callers in the (615) / (629) area must use the new dialing procedures 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. Beginning March 28, new phone lines or services may be assigned numbers using the new 629 area code.

 

In addition to changing your dialing procedures, all services, automatic dialing equipment, or other types of equipment that are programmed with a seven-digit number will need to be reprogrammed to use the new dialing procedures. Some examples are life safety systems, PBXs, fax machines, Internet dial-up numbers, alarm and security systems, gates, speed dialers, call forwarding settings, voicemail services, etc.

 

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. Callers will continue to dial 1+ area code + telephone number for all long distance calls. You can still dial just three digits to reach 911.

 

The agency said the decision came after a survey, which concluded that 83 percent of Middle Tennesseans favored an overlay to the splitting of the area into two regions.

 

The overlay will allow existing phone customers keep their current numbers. Phone companies reportedly have been given until July to prepare for the overlay.

 

The (615) area code has served 13 middle Tennessee counties since 1954.

 

For more information visit the TRA website at http://1.usa.gov/1zG63M2, or call the TRA at 615-741-2904