(WAND) - Residential and business customers served by the 217 area code are being told to prepare for the addition of the new 447 area code.
The 447 area code will be added as an overlay to the region currently served by the area code 217.
This is being done to ensure a continuing supply of telephone numbers for the area.
An overlay is the addition of another area code to the same geographic region served by an existing area code.
The Illinois Commerce Commission ordered an area code overlay for the 217 Area Code on Aug. 15, 2006 to be implemented upon the exhaust of available, unassigned 217 prefixes.
An overlay does not require anyone to change their current area code or telephone number.
A 6-month permissive dialing period will start Aug. 29, 2020, to give people adequate time to adjust to the changes.
During that period, local calls can be made with either 7 or 10 digits.
Local calls will remain local even though you dial 10 digits.
Starting Feb. 27, 2021, mandatory dialing will occur where all local calls made within the Illinois 217 area code will have to be placed using the 10-digit telephone number (area code + the 7-digit telephone number).
Starting March 27, 2021, new telephone lines or services may be assigned numbers using the new 447 area code.
