Mandatory 10-digit dialing (3-digit area code + the 7-digit telephone number) begins April 9 for Virginians living in the 757 area code region.
Local calls made with just seven digits will not be connected. This is the second step in a February 2020 relief plan approved by the State Corporation Commission (SCC) to phase in the new 948 area code. Permissive 10-digit dialing for the 757 area code region began Sept. 11, 2021.
The 757 area code encompasses the vast majority of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area including Williamsburg, Franklin and Suffolk in the west, and Virginia Beach, Norfolk and the Eastern Shore to the east.
In the coming months, the inventory of available phone numbers with “757” as the area code is expected to run out. The SCC approved an overlay, which is the addition of another area code (948) to the same geographic region served by an existing area code (757). Beginning May 9, new telephone lines or services may be assigned numbers using the new 948 area code.
The good news: residents and businesses that already have phone numbers will get to keep them. No one’s 757 phone number will change.
Alarm, security, and elevator services and equipment currently located in the 757 area code and programmed to dial only seven digits must be updated or reprogrammed to dial the area code + telephone number for all calls in the 757 area code.
For more information on this topic, see: scc.virginia.gov/pages/757-Area-Code-Exhaust-Relief-FAQ.
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