SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois Commerce Commission says a new area code is coming to a phone near you about a year from now.
The ICC says a brand new 861 area code will not replace 309 in this area, but will be what’s called an “overlay” area code, taking effect in late 2022 or early 2023.
The commission says the three-digit prefixes available in the 309 area code are going to be exhausted by the fourth quarter of 2023.
Numbers already in the 309 area code will not change. The new area code only will apply to those getting new phone numbers when 309 prefixes run out.
Phone carriers are starting to implement mandatory ten-digit phone dialing, in part, because of the new “988” National Suicide Prevention Hotline.
“In order for the 988 code to function properly, all area codes that already have ‘988’ as a working prefix must convert to 10-digit dialing,” said the ICC, in a news release. “With this change, 7-digit local dialing will cease, and the benefit of a geographic split versus an overlay is eliminated. As such, the only remaining means of supplying new phone numbers to a region anticipating exhaust, is to assign a new, overlay code.”
