ACCOMAC, Va.- Federal regulators predict the 757 area code in Virginia will exhaust all possible phone numbers by the end of 2021. So, the agency started the process to add a new one to the area.
This week, members of the State Corporation Commission are holding a series of meetings for public comment. The SCC held two in Accomac on Thursday. The meetings provide a chance for the public to give their opinion on two possible solutions to the growing number of phones in the 757 area code.
The first solution is called a geographic split. According to the SCC, the existing 757 area code would be carved into two regions. Phone customers in the first region would get to keep the 757 area code and their existing phone number. The second region would have to use the new area code and get a whole new number.
The second solution is called an all-services overlay. Essentially, the SCC says a new area code will be added to the existing region.
"If you had to split them up, had a lot of contacts you have to change, you'd have to call a lot of people up," Zachary Higbee of Painter said. "And especially where I work, I work with contractors, and if you switched up the numbers and that would ruin your business pretty much. It would mess up everything."
Creating a new area code on top of the 757, which is what the overlay calls for, would mean that all local calls would need to dial the entire 10-digit number.
"It has to be done, the way the population is just growing and growing and growing and eventually they're going to have to do it again," Peter Lancho of Onancock said.
There will be one last hearing in Richmond on Sept. 17. Public comment can also be submitted on the SCC's website: https://www.scc.virginia.gov/case/PublicComments.aspx
The North American Numbering Plan Administrator filed notice of the limited numbers in April, which started the process with the SCC. Ultimately, the commission will decide which option works moving forward.
