Penn State won’t lose 814, but new area code coming
Lehigh Valley residents used to dialing the main Penn State campus’ area code must gear up for a new one.
Area codes were established shortly after World War II, and State College and central Pennsylvania have always used 814. Now the region is getting a three-digit companion number, 582.
The state Public Utility Commission, in a news release last week, reminded residents, merchants and others in the 814 area code that they must be prepared for mandatory 10-digit dialing beginning April 3. For the last several months, callers have been able to use 10-digit dialing for local calls to test their devices and prepare for the change, the PUC said.
The 582 overlay code, which will be assigned to new customers when available numbers in the 814 code become exhausted, takes effect May 1. An overlay code works side-by-side with a current code; a 484 overlay code was added in 1999 to the Lehigh Valley’s 610 area code.
In 2018, officials who dole out codes established a 445 number that serves portions of the Valley but mostly southeastern Pennsylvania. The 610 code was split off from 215 several years earlier.
215 and 814 were among the four original area codes established in Pennsylvania by the former AT&T and Bell System in 1947. The 814 code has covered all or parts of 27 counties in central and northwestern Pennsylvania, including Centre County, home of Penn State’s main campus.
814, the largest area code in the state geographically, was the only one in the state that hadn’t been set up with an additional code. With 582, the state will have 14 area codes, as the appetite for cellphones and smart devices requiring additional numbers has exploded among consumers, the PUC has said.
Northern Northampton County, as well as parts of Carbon, Monroe and Schuylkill counties, became part of the 570 area code in 1998. A 272 overlay code in the 570 area entered service in 2013. Part of Berks County joined the 223 area code that joined 717 in August.
The PUC said consumers in the 814 code should check their devices to ensure they are configured for 10-digit dialing, and contact equipment or service providers with questions. Devices include cellphones, medical alert systems and internet dial.
The numbering changes are assigned by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator in Herndon, Virginia.