The end of the 812 area code

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Big changes are coming this year to Wabash Valley phones. State officials say the 812 area code will run out of numbers by 2015.
    
The state is looking for a solution, but it could completely alter how you make calls.
   
For most of southern Indiana 812 is the only area code that anyone has ever known. In fact it's been used since the late 1940's.
    
Since the cell phone boom in the late 1990's, the state has been running out of numbers to give to new phones.

"What we are finally seeing for the 812 area follows a national trend more than 35 states have had to add new area codes to one degree or the other,” Anthony Swinger spokesman for the Indiana Office of the Utility Consumer Counselor, or OUCC, said.
   
That means Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and OUCC have a new job. To solve the numbers problem with a solution that benefits all who have a phone number.
    
So they started at city hall in Terre Haute Monday night.

"This is the first of 10 public hearings throughout the 812 area to gather public comment our office will weigh in with a recommendation in may and we'd expect a decision later in the year," Swinger explained.

So what could that decision be? Well to solve the number problem there are two ways the state can fix it.
    
The first is a geographic split. The 812 area code would be divided up into 2 or more areas. One stays 812 numbers, the others get a new area code.
    
The second is a little simpler. All new phone numbers from this point on would just get a new area code. No matter where they are. But, it means you would have to dial all ten digits for all local calls.
    
That’s what brought folks spoke to city hall Monday night to voice their concerns over which choice the state goes with.

"Any one who wants to speak on the record, share any comments or concerns or thoughts they think would be helpful they have an opportunity to do that,” Swinger explained.
    
As it stands the meeting was just beginning of the end of an area code.

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