In order to accommodate the demand for new phone numbers in the 541 area code region, changes have been made in the North America Numbering plan to add 458 as an additional area code to the same geographic region as an “overlay”. This means that both 541-xxx-xxxx and 458-xxx-xxxx telephone numbers will be issued in all areas currently served by the 541 area code. Having both area codes in our region will mean that we will eventually need to dial all 10 digits to make local area phone calls and will no longer be able to make calls by only dialing 7 digits.
July 13th marked the start of what is called the permissive dialing period. During this period, a person can dial either 7 or 10 digits to make a local phone call. The permissive dialing period ends Jan 10, 2010. OSU’s phone system has been reconfigured to comply with the permissive dialing rules. When making local calls from campus, you should now dial either 9-541-NXX-XXXX or 9-458-NXX-XXXX. These new dialing rules only affect local calls off campus. Long distance calls are dialed the same way as before. If your current phone number has 541, it will not change. The new overlay of 458 is for new numbers, not existing.
During the permissive dialing period, please identify any devices you have that may need to be reprogrammed. This may include but is not limited to:
If you find that you need programming changes to your phone or voice mail, please contact your Department’s Telephone Coordinator.
On January 10, 2010, all calls must be dialed using 10 digits. At that time, OSU’s telephone system will be reconfigured to no longer allow 7 digit phone calls.
Please note that this change affects all phones in the current 541 area code. This includes your home phone if you live in this area. The change only affects local, off-campus calls. On campus calls remain unchanged with 5 digit dialing.
