GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The numbers you call will soon have another option, though it’s not entirely set when a new area for Northeast Wisconsin will see action.
As the amount of available numbers in the 920 area code continues to decline, the state Public Service Commission has authorized the use of the 274 area code.
No existing phone numbers will change. Phone providers are assigned numbers in blocks of 1,000. After the 920 blocks are all assigned, the PSC will start allowing the 274 area code to be used.
“Technically, we will have the capability to assign 274 numbers on May 5, but we won’t do so until we have exhausted 920 numbers,” said Peter Jahn, telecommunications analyst with the PSC. “We will continue to assign numbers from the 920 area code until all the thousand number blocks have been assigned. My best guess on when the last of the 920 numbers will be assigned is late fall or early next year. At that point, we will begin assigning 274 numbers.”
Changes are happening in other parts of the state, as well.
In the 608 area code, the 353 prefix is being added in the same process, but have not been assigned yet. Those could be available in August, Jahn said Thursday.
In the 715 area code, the 534 prefix is now being assigned, he said.
Changes are not expected for several years in either the 262 or 414 area codes.
Regulators no longer create area codes with new boundaries. The 920 area code, for example, was created in 1997 when that region was separated from the 414 area code, but required all phone numbers within the 920 region to be changed. The same happened with the 262 area code in 1999, shrinking the 414 area code from the eastern third of the state to just Milwaukee County. Given the expenses associated with such changes, however, the overlays are now created to offer multiple area codes within the same geographic region. That also means all calls require 10-digit dialing, instead of being able to omit the area code, as was once the practice for local calls.
The price of a call will not change due to the overlay. Customers can still dial just three digits to reach 911, as well as 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, 711, 811, and 988, the new Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
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