Dialing up the Numbers

Overlay area code to change the way you make phone calls

Hey Plainfield, do you have a good head for numbers?

Hopefully you do, because making a call inside the 815 area code will take four extra keystrokes beginning this weekend.

Starting Feb. 17, residents of DeKalb, Will and southern Kendall counties - already in the 815 region - will have to dial "1-815" for all calls within the area code, even if calling from another 815 number right next door.

The new rule was put in place because a second area code - 779 - is being added to deal with population growth in the territory that encircles Chicago from Rockford to Joliet.

NeuStar, the national clearinghouse that assigns phone numbers to telecom companies, says all of the 7.9 million usable numbers in the 815 area already have been distributed.

That does not mean every number has been assigned to a specific user: many numbers are rendered useless because they are locked to geographic areas with limited populations, while many more numbers are stockpiled as reserves by phone companies or other telecom providers.

Since NeuStar has nothing more to give companies that request new numbers in the 815 area code, it is creating an "overlay district," or establishing a second area code that mirrors the territory of 815.

The new area code is 779, although residents signing up for new numbers are unlikely to be assigned it until phone company stockpiles run out.

However, as of Feb. 17, calls within the new 815/779 area code cannot be completed without dialing all 11 digits.

This is the second time an overlay district has been established in Illinois, and regulators are already beginning to set up the third, which will affect the 630 area code that now serves Kane, DuPage and northern Kendall counties.

No specific date has been set, but 11-digit dialing will likely be required by the end of the year in the 630 area. The overlay code in that area will be 331.

The Beacon News