Don’t Forget:

Dial 10 Digits

Beginning this weekend, all calls made within Connecticut will require the use of at least ten numbers. The switch to ten-digit local dialing is necessary due to the need for new area codes.

In 1999, the Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) ruled that when new area codes were necessary, it would not further divide this small state along geographic lines, which requires some customers’ area codes to change and is very costly to businesses.

Instead it was decided that the state will use what is called an “overlay,” in which a new area code is overlaid on top of the old one. Present telephone numbers will remain in the existing area code, but new numbers will be issued in the new area code when the existing one exhausts.

Therefore, it is necessary to implement ten-digit dialing for local calls. Telephone companies will begin assigning telephone numbers in the 475 area code in December. The 475 code will be used within the 203 area code territory, which includes all of New Haven and Fairfield Counties, as well as the town of Sherman and all customers of the former Woodbury Telephone Company.

A second area code, 959, will be added at a future date to the area served by 860. The new phone procedure has been put into place to ensure a continuing supply of telephone numbers in Connecticut.

The announcement of these new area codes was made in May by the DPUC, and residents have been working within a “permissive period,” where local calls could still be made using either seven or ten digits, since then. Ten-digit dialing will become mandatory on Saturday, November 14.

To complete local calls in Connecticut, the new dialing procedure requires callers to dial an area code plus the telephone number. This means that all calls from the 203/475 and 860 area codes in Connecticut that are currently dialed with seven digits must be dialed using area code and telephone number.

If you do not use the new dialing procedure, your call will not be completed, and a recording will instruct you to hang up and dial again.

What is a local call now will remain a local call regardless of the number of digits dialed.

The price of a call, coverage area, or other rates and services will not change due to the overlay.

You can still dial just three digits to reach 911.

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

Residents are also reminded to check business stationery, advertising materials, personal checks, and personal or pet ID tags to ensure the area code is included.

The DPUC reminds the public that telephone numbers are not used only for telephones. Data systems, alarm systems, ATMs and Internet connections, including broadband, are all using telephone lines that require a telephone number.

Approximately 40 percent of the state’s telephone lines currently require ten-digit dialing for local calls between the 203 and 860 area codes, but with more area codes about to be implemented, the need for ten-digit dialing for all local calls is necessary. No calling areas, rates, or charges are affected by this change.