Get ready to start dialing a new area code in Southwest Ohio. The Public Service Commission of Ohio says the 513 area code is nearly out of unique seven-digit phone numbers.
Beginning at the end of April, new numbers in the 513 area code overlay region may be assigned to a new 283 area code. The change went into effect April 28.
Regulators predicted several years ago the 513 area code would reach exhaust in the fourth quarter of 2023. The 283 number was announced in Dec. 2021. The change comes three years after the addition of the 326 area code to the 937 overlay region in the Greater Dayton area in 2020.
That same year, the 937 region changed to mandatory 10-digit dialing to accommodate the new area code. The 513 (and 859) area codes switched to mandatory 10-digit dialing in Oct. 2021. That switch was required to make way for the national suicide prevention hotline to switch to an easier three-digit number, similar to 911. In order for that number — 988 — to work, carriers were required to switch to 10-digit dialing by July 2022.
RELATED: New '988' suicide prevention lifeline launches nationwide
I'm not planning to get a new number, will this affect me?
PUCO offers the following tips about the change:
- Your current telephone number, including current area code, will not change.
- If you seek new phone service after April 28, 2023, you may be assigned a phone number with the 283 area code.
- You will need to dial area code + telephone number or 1 + area code + telephone number for all local calls.
- 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. You can also dial three digits to reach 211 and 811, as well as 311 and 511, where available.
