A new area code for the Indianapolis area, 463, was announced last week by the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor.
Indianapolis’ current area code, 317, is projected to run out of numbers in 2017. Because of this, the new 463 area code will be added in 2016, according to the office’s website.
Current consumers may keep their old numbers with no changes, but new telephone customers will have the new area code.
With the introduction of the new area code, 10-digit dialing will become mandatory in the Indianapolis area, with a six-month transition period to allow consumers to adjust to the new system.
While signage is not required to be changed, other systems that use telephone lines such as fax machines and alarm systems must be reprogrammed to dial 10 digits, according to the office’s website.
Under the overlay system, rather than dividing up existing areas into smaller geographical units and assigning new codes, new codes are added on to existing geographical area code units.
This is not the first overlay change for Indiana. The 812 area code, an area which includes IU, was overlayed with the 930 area code in 2014, with 10-digit dialing becoming mandatory in March of this year.
More information about the change can be found on the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor’s ?website at www.in.gov/oucc.
Brian Gamache
