715 and 920 area code changes mean 10 digit dialing starting Oct. 17
By Steve Wideman • Gannett Wisconsin Media •

Residents living in the 715 telephone area code might consider
exercising their index fingers for the next month.

At one minute after midnight on Oct. 17, 10-digit dialing for local
calls in the 715 area code unofficially begins as state regulators
look to cope with an inadequate supply of telephone numbers.

The change is the beginning of a nine-month period for people to get
used to dialing 715 and then their regular seven-digit number for
local calls. The change becomes mandatory on July 7, 2010.

A similar change is set to take place in 2011 and 2012 for 920 area
code residents.

A continuing growth in the number of homes and businesses with
multiple telephone landlines, cell phones and Internet access numbers
is putting a strain on the available telephone numbers in both area
codes, according to the state Public Service Commission.

“I’d like to go to the old wall phone, dial two longs and a short and
talk to my neighbor, but I can’t do that anymore,” said Waupaca County
Board Chairman Dick Koeppen. “We just have to learn to live with this
even though it may be inconvenient. There have been changes in the
telephone system over the years that have been inconvenient, but these
changes are just signs of the times.”

The PSC decided on Dec. 8, 2008, to change procedures in the 715 and
920 areas.

While the voluntary 715 change begins on Oct. 17, the voluntary change
for the 920 area code begins on May 14, 2011, and becomes mandatory on
Feb. 11, 2012.

According to a Sept. 14 commission memo to area municipalities, new
subscribers to phone service in the 715 area will be assigned an area
code of 534, a process called “overlaying” telephone numbers.

New subscribers in the 920 area code will be assigned a 274 area
code.

There could be some costs for businesses forced to change contact
numbers and stationary, but telephone users have little option than to
comply, said Koeppen, who also is a businesses owner.

“It is an extra cost, but it’s something we have to do to keep up with
progress,” Koeppen