Just a helpful reminder for other folks living in Connecticut – if you haven’t already gotten in the habit of prepending a 203 or an 860 onto phone numbers when making local calls, the days of 7-digit dialing are numbered.
From the DPUC announcement:
Beginning November 14, 2009, you must use the new dialing procedure for all local calls in Connecticut. 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.
Beginning December 12, 2009, new telephone lines or services may be assigned numbers with the 475 area code.
The new 959 area code telephone numbers will be assigned at a future date. No dates have been announced at this time.
What Will You Need to Do?
In addition to changing your dialing procedure, all services, automatic dialing equipment, or other types of equipment that are programmed with a 7-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. Be sure to check your business stationery, advertising materials, personal checks, and your personal or pet ID tags to ensure the area code is included.
This is actually the third time I’ve been through this sort of a change, thanks to past moves. It’s not really a big deal once the habit is formed, although there are usually some glitches with alarm systems, and other modem-reliant devices that people tend to forget about.
The bigger headache, in my opinion, is having to figure out what the local dialing standard is when traveling. Many parts of North America still retain 7-digit dialing for local calls. Others have moved to 10-digit, while still others require 11-digits (1+area code) for all local calls.
I was about to wish for some sort of standardization (e.g. 10 digits always works for local calls; or 11 digits always works for any call within North America)…but it dawned on me that I rarely ever dial phone numbers any more. Either the numbers are preprogrammed in my cell phone, or I rely on the magic of Google Voice.
