MONROE — Owners of cellphones have been used to dialing the area code and the phone number when making phone calls, whether across the street or across the country.
Within seven months, users of all kinds of phones, including landlines, will have to dial all 10 numbers to make phone calls, including local calls.
Starting Oct. 24, callers in all six of Wisconsin’s six area codes, including the 608 area code, will be required to dial the area code first, then the phone number to make local calls.
Landline callers in the 608, 414, 262 and 920 area codes will be able to dial with seven or 10 digits starting April 24. By Oct. 24 all phone users will have to use all 10 digits. Callers in the 715 and 534 area codes now must use 10 digits.
Ten-digit calling is the result of the creation of the three-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which is now 1-800-273-8255, but is transitioning to 988 (the same number as the Mount Hope exchange) July 16, 2022. The new 988 is being added to other nationwide three-digit numbers including 911 for emergency services, 411 for information, 611 for landline repair or cellphone customer service, 711 for the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf or TeleType Phones, and 811 for Diggers Hotline.
Dialing 1 for long-distance numbers is generally not required for cellphone calls; whether it is required for landline calls depends on the phone company.
Wisconsin was assigned three area codes when the NANP began in 1947 — 608 in the southwestern quarter of Wisconsin including Madison and La Crosse, 414 in the southeastern quarter of the state including Milwaukee and Green Bay, and 715 in the northern half of the state. Growing use of cellphones and pagers forced the creation of new area codes as telephone companies started running out of phone numbers. The 414 area code was split in the 1990s to create the 262 area code outside Milwaukee, and the 920 area code in the northern half of the 414 area code. The 715 area code had the 534 area code added as an overlay a decade ago.
The NANP estimates that 10-digit calling will have sufficient telephone numbers through 2049.
Current southwestern Wisconsin telephone exchanges
214, 426, 558: Monroe (US Cellular).
293, 851: Monroe (Verizon).
306, 428: Prairie du Chien (Verizon).
319, 935, 937: Dodgeville (Frontier).
324, 325, 328, 329: Monroe (UTelco).
326, 357: Prairie du Chien (CenturyLink).
330, 732, 778: Platteville (US Cellular).
331: Platteville (Verizon).
341, 574: Dodgeville (US Cellular).
342, 348, 349: Platteville (CenturyLink).
375: Boscobel (CenturyLink).
379: Mount Hope (Verizon).
383, 585, 647: Richland Center (Frontier).
391: Boscobel (Verizon).
407, 425, 553: Dodgeville (Verizon).
412: Prairie du Chien (US Cellular).
439: South Wayne (Utelco).
465: Argyle (Utelco).
475: Richland Center (Verizon).
476: Steuben (CenturyLink).
482: Darlington (US Cellular).
485: Boscobel (US Cellular).
491: Dodgeville (Mediacom).
523: Blanchardville (Utelco).
527: New Glarus (Mount Vernon Telephone).
532: Avoca (Centurylink).
533: Woodman (Grantland Telecom).
536: Richland Center (Richland-Grant Telephone Cooperative).
537: Blue River (Richland-Grant Telephone Cooperative).
538: Viola (Richland-Grant Telephone Cooperative).
543: Argyle (CenturyLink).
549: Viola (Frontier),
568: Dickeyville (Dickeyville Telephone).
583: Lone Rock (Frontier).
588: Spring Green (Frontier).
596, 677: Gratiot (Frontier).
604: Richland Center (US Cellular).
606: Viroqua (US Cellular).
623: Cobb (Frontier).
624: Soldiers Grove (Richland-Grant Telephone Cooperative).
627: Viola (Vernon Telephone Cooperative).
629: Readstown (Vernon Telephone Cooperative).
632: Westby (Verizon),
634, 638: Westby (Vernon Telephone Cooperative).
636: New Glarus (Verizon).
637: Viroqua (Frontier).
642: Platteville (Verizon),
645: Monroe (Bug Tussel Wireless).
649: Richland Center (Tech Com).
675: Viroqua (Vernon Telephone),
705: Dodgeville (Mediacom).
707: Platteville (Airadigm),
723: Lancaster (Farmers Telephone).
725: Cassville (Farmers Telephone).
726: Darlington (Verizon).
735: Gays Mills (Richland-Grant Telephone Cooperative),
739: Muscoda (CenturyLink).
744: Cuba City (Cuba City Telephone).
748: Hazel Green/Fairplay (Frontier).
753: Arena (Frontier).
759: Benton (CenturyLink).
762: Belmont (Belmont Telephone).
763: Potosi (Farmers Telephone).
776: Darlington (CenturyLink),
794: Glen Haven (Farmers Telephone).
822: Fennimore (Farmers Telephone).
854: Hazel Green (CenturyLink),
872: Gays Mills (CenturyLink).
875: Wauzeka (CenturyLink).
922: Gratiot (CenturyLink),
924: Ridgeway (Frontier).
929: Highland (CenturyLink),
930: Dodgeville (MHTC).
943: Montfort (CenturyLink).
965: Shullsburg (CenturyLink).
966: Browntown (Utelco),
967: Hollandale (Frontier).
968: South Wayne (Verizon).
983: Cazenovia (La Valle Telephone Cooperative),
986: Cazenovia (Frontier),
987: Mineral Point (Frontier),
988: Mount Hope (Grantland Telecom).
994: Bloomington (Grantland Telecom).
996: Bagley (Grantland Telecom).
Source: US-Places.com.