SAN FRANCISCO – The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Thursday acted to ensure that phone numbers continue to be available to meet the demand in the geographic region served by the 510 area code by approving a second area code (called an overlay) that will provide additional numbering resources while minimizing customer inconvenience. The new area code that will be added to the 510 region is 341.
The 510 area code, serving the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, is projected to run out of available prefixes (the first three numbers after the area code in a phone number) by the second quarter of 2019. The CPUC’s action today approves the request of the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA), the neutral third-party area code relief planner for California, for approval of an area code overlay to provide additional numbering resources to meet the demand for telephone numbers.
An area code overlay adds a second area code to the geographic region served by the existing area code. Therefore, multiple area codes co-exist within the same geographic region. Existing 510 customers will retain their area code and specific telephone number(s). However, customers will be required to dial the three-digit area code for all calls to and from telephone numbers with the 510 and 341 area codes when the overlay is effective. The price of a call will not change due to the overlay. Customers can still dial just three digits to reach 911, as well as 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, 711, and 811.
Below are some tips to help prepare for the area code overlay:
- Contact security or alarm vendors to update dial-up numbers to avoid a break in security routines and contacts.
- Reprogram equipment or features, i.e., automatic dial, speed-dial, call forwarding, modems for computer or Internet dial-up access, etc., that are currently programmed to dial seven digits to dial 1+ area code + telephone number.
- Update items like stationery, checks, etc., to include your area code + telephone number.
- Start dialing 1 + the area code + telephone number for all calls.
- Advise families, friends, etc., to dial 1 + the area code + telephone number for all calls.
- Provide your area code and telephone number, not just the telephone number, as needed.
- When asking for someone’s number, remember to ask for the area code, too.
- Remember that the previous area code and the new area code will co-exist within the same geographic region.
Prior to approving the area code overlay, the CPUC held public meetings within the 510 area code in Oakland and Berkeley on January 17, 2017, and in Hayward on February 15, 2017.
The 510 area code was created when it split off of the 415 area code in September 1991. The 510 area code was split again when the 925 area code was split off in 1998. The 510 area code serves the cities of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Fremont, Hayward, Newark, Oakland, Piedmont, San Leandro, and Union City in Alameda County; and the cities of El Cerrito, Hercules, Pinole, Richmond, and San Pablo in Contra Costa County.
The proposal voted on is available at: http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M216/K627/216627869.PDF.
For more information on the 510 area code, please see www.cpuc.ca.gov/510areacode.
The CPUC regulates services and utilities, safeguards the environment, and assures Californians’ access to safe and reliable utility infrastructure and services. For more information on the CPUC, please visit www.cpuc.ca.gov.
