10-Digit Dialing and New Area Code for the 918 Area Code
Beginning March 5, 2011, you will be required to dial the area code to place local calls.
Now is a good time to start the habit of leaving your area code when leaving phone messages. Starting April 1, 2011, phone numbers with the new 539 area code will start rolling out. All local calls that are considered local will remain local. Also, you will not need to dial “1,” then the area code to make local calls.
As you may have seen on the news, the new area code is being applied because all available numbers in the 918 area code are expected to be used up in the near future because of the explosion of technologies and demand in homes and offices for landline phones, cellular and PCS phones, pagers, fax machines, modems, burglar alarms, ATMs and Internet access.
After months of public discussion, the three corporation commissioners voted in January 2010 to create an overlay of area that superimposes a 539 area code on the current 918 area code.
Of the 21 area codes across the country that have dealt with number exhaustion in the past five years, 19 chose overlays; currently, 51 areas in 42 states require 10-digit dialing.
Remember: March 5, 2011, everyone in the Tulsa metropolitan area will be required to dial the area code to make a local call.
So, while I wait in the doctor’s office or watch television, I guess I’ll be scrolling through my contact list and adding area codes where they are missing!!
