Ten Digit Dialing Coming To Parts Of South Jersey
TRENTON, NJ (CBS) -- For two decades, people in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania suburbs have had to dial 10 numbers to make a local call. Now it appears much of South Jersey will probably have to do the same.
The administrative process has begun in the state Board of Public Utilities to approve an overlay, with a second area code for all of 609, and towns that share the 856 area code.
Why?
"By the end of the third quarter of 2018, we will be out of numbers in the 609 area code," BPU President Richard Mroz told KYW Newsradio. "So we have to assign a new area code."
There are about 7.5 million phone numbers now assigned within the 609 area code, which extends from the greater Trenton area into parts of Burlington County and east along the shore in Atlantic and Cape May Counties.
Public hearings are planned February 23rd in Trenton on the idea which, if approved, would be phased in over a 15-month period. Once that's over, people in the affected area would be required to dial the area code and phone number for any local call.
"The way the overlay will work is that new customers, as they sign up for service or get a new cell phone, they'll be assigned a new area code even if they're in the 609 current geographic area," Mroz added.
It's thought the change will allow for enough phone numbers to serve the area for the next 46 years.
