The Quad Cities will have a new area code to add to the bistate region’s 309 and 563 mix thanks to an “area code overlay” coming to northwestern and north central Illinois. The Illinois-only “861” area code will one day join the region’s 309 area code, but it will not impact users’ current phone numbers, […]
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The Quad Cities will have a new area code to add to the bistate region’s 309 and 563 mix thanks to an “area code overlay” coming to northwestern and north central Illinois.
The Illinois-only “861” area code will one day join the region’s 309 area code, but it will not impact users’ current phone numbers, according to the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). It’s also likely to be some time before most Quad Citians even encounter this newest three-digit addition.
Since 1957, the 309 area code has served a large section of Illinois including all or most of the counties of Rock Island, Mercer, Henry, Peoria, McLean, Tazewell, Knox, Woodford, Fulton and McDonough. The 309 region also includes the cities of Moline, Rock Island, East Moline, Silvis, Coal Valley, Geneseo, Kewanee, Galva, Aledo, Bloomington/Normal, Peoria, Pekin and Galesburg.
That northern Illinois region is just one of the areas in the state which will see the addition of an overlay area code.
The 861 overlay of the 309 area code, which eventually will be needed to supplement the region’s supply of telephone lines, is only for newly established numbers.
And to be clear, the exchange is needed not because the supply of telephone numbers here is exhausted, said George Light, an engineering analyst with the ICC. “An area code is deemed to be in a state of ‘exhaust’ when the last available prefix has been assigned,” he told the QCBJ.
Prefixes are the first three digits of a seven-digit telephone number, “and once assigned, they are forever associated with that specific location. Carriers may ‘share’ parts of a prefix, but the numbers can only serve one locality,” he added.
In the past, when new area codes were needed the national numbering administrator filed a petition with the ICC requesting a change. The commission studied the issues, heard testimony and held hearings about how to make it happen.
“Options were typically a variety of ‘split’ alternatives (where the territory is physically divided, with one side keeping the legacy area code and the other receiving a new one), as well as the option for an overlay,” Mr. Light said.
The overlay area code, in this case, 861, doesn’t change the physical boundaries of the existing 309 area code region. He said: “It simply acts as a source of supplemental numbers.”
The two options do differ in one major way. In the past, split area codes preserved local seven-digit dialing, while about half of the subscribers were forced to adopt the new area code, he said.
With an overlay, all existing phone numbers remain unchanged, but subscribers are required to dial the full 10-digit number once the second area code is introduced. That includes a user’s area code, their local three-number exchange and the last four digits of their phone number.
Ten-digit dialing became the norm for everyone, however, when the FCC introduced the “988” Suicide Prevention Emergency Code. That’s because the only way that the new code would function correctly nationwide was to impose 10-digit dialing across the country, Mr. Light said.
That process was completed in July 2021, “and with it, the only remaining viable means of augmenting the supply of available prefixes became the overlay,” Mr. Light said.
A few months later in 2021, the national number administrator informed the ICC of the imminent exhaustion of 309 prefixes and laid out its next steps and a timeline for addressing it. Preparations for the switch – in this case, the overlay – were made in 2022.
“Mainly, that was ensuring that the new 861 area code was translated into every database and that switching routes were put in place so that calls to and from the new numbers could be completed,” Mr. Light said.
On Feb. 24, 2023, the new area code will go live, he said. “That is to say, it will be functioning across the telecommunications network.”
But since there still are more than 25 unassigned prefixes – the second set of numbers after the area code – remaining in the 309 area code, the switch is unlikely to be immediately apparent. “Not until the last available prefix from 309 is assigned, will the new 861 numbers begin to appear,” Mr. Light added. That means it could be months – or in some cases a year or more – before anyone is assigned or even sees an 861-telephone number.
To prepare consumers for the switch and the new 10-digit dialing, the ICC has been spreading the word in media reports and inserts in phone carrier billing statements. Another news release will be issued Friday, Feb. 17, to remind 309 users of the additional area code.
Because there is still a large supply of unassigned, individual telephone numbers in the 309, however, a person requesting a second line or a new line won’t necessarily receive a number within 861.
Typically, cellular and VoIP (Voice Over Internet Phone) providers are the first to receive the new codes, as their “churn” or turnover rate and new customer assignment rates are higher than traditional landline telephones, according to the ICC website.
Also, Mr. Light said, if a new company comes to the area or an existing one is expanding, for example, and it needs several hundred or thousand sequential phone numbers to serve its location, there is more likelihood that they would receive an 861 assignment.
Consumers seeking additional telephone lines will, in many instances, continue to be able to receive 309 telephone numbers, even after the 861 area code is in service.
The FCC requires that all telephone calls made in the 309/861 overlay area be completed by dialing the 10-digit number (area code + seven digit number). The change does not raise the cost of the call within your local region. A local call will remain a local call, and a toll call will remain a toll call, regardless of the number of digits that are dialed to complete it.
The existing 309 area was created in 1957 as one of the first area codes not serving an entire state to have a zero as the second digit. It also was the first new area code created in Illinois after the implementation of the 1947 national numbering plan to help cope with the growing need for new phone numbers.
In 2001, the Iowa Quad Cities experienced an area code split. The new three-digit area code was created by geographically dividing the existing numbering plan area, and assigning area codes to the divisions. Only one division was allowed to keep its existing area code. That’s how the 563 area code for the Iowa Quad Cities – which had been 319 – became 563.
Quad Citians unsuccessfully fought the change arguing that the new area code would divide a bistate area that was working to grow and market itself as one unified region.
ICC facts about the new overlay area code:
- Your current telephone number, including current area code, will not change.
- If you seek new phone service after Jan. 20, 2023, you may be assigned a phone number with the 861 area code.
- You will continue to dial the area code + telephone number for all local calls, including calls within the same area code.
- You will continue to dial 1 + area code + telephone number for all long distance calls.
- What is a local call now will remain a local call.
- The price of a call, coverage area, or other rates and services will not change due to the overlay.
- You can still dial just three digits to reach 911 and 988, as well as 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, 711, and 811 if those are currently available in your community.
