
New Area Code Coming to Louisiana – Is Your Number Changing?
There was once a time when you could tell where someone was from just based on their phone number. If they had a 504 area code they were likely from New Orleans or Baton Rouge. If the first three numbers of their phone number were 318 they might be from Monroe, Shreveport, or Alexandria.
Then we started getting really crazy adding the 225 area code for Baton Rouge, the 337 area code for Lafayette and southwestern Louisiana, and then the 985 which is reserved for southeastern Louisiana that is not in the Greater New Orleans Area.
Area codes seem like they used to be a lot more important than they are now. Maybe it's because we had to memorize phone numbers back in the day. These days, we save contacts and press one button and our call goes through. Heaven help us if we ever lose battery power or find ourselves having to remember the phone number of a loved one or perhaps even our own phone number.
Because of the popularity of mobile phones, the need for more phone numbers has been on the rise. That's actually the reason Louisiana added so many area codes in the past two or three decades and now we are adding yet another area code. The good news for this area code addition is that it will mean very little confusion and changes for those who currently have phone service in the affected area.
That affected area is generally northern Louisiana and communities served by the 318 area code. According to the State Public Service Commission, there are no more numbers available in the 318 area code so all new numbers in that service area will have the area code 457.
Beginning on February 24th all phone users making calls into the 318 area code or from the 318 area code will need to dial using all ten digits. We went through a similar situation when the National Suicide Prevention number 988 went online.
Then beginning September 25th anyone who gets a new phone number in the "318" area of the state will find their new number begins with "457". Again, existing customers who currently have a "318" area code on their phone will not have to do anything but continue to pay the bill.
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