Updated: Friday, Jun. 25, 1999 at 22:07 CDT

New 469 Area Code Goes Into Effect Thursday

By John Moritz
Star-Telegram

AUSTIN -- When your fingers do the walking for calls into Dallas and adjacent counties next month, they'll have to learn a new route.

Beginning Thursday, a 469 area code will be added to the existing 214 and 972 area codes in Dallas and nine other North Texas counties, and customers who order new lines can be assigned the new area code no matter where they live, the Texas Public Utility Commission said yesterday.

"Nobody's present phone number is going to change, and a customer with one area code on his home phone can request the same one if he's putting in a second line," said Terry Hadley, a PUC spokesman.

The affected area also includes parts of Denton, Collin, Grayson, Johnson, Ellis, Hill, Kaufman, Rockwall and Hunt counties. Customers there will have to dial 10 digits, even if they are calling next door, or their second phone line.

Callers to Fort Worth and the 817 area code are not affected by the change.

In 1997, the Public Utility Commission split the old 817 area into three area codes, and regulators expect that the 817 area has enough numbers to last until 2004.

For 3½ years, phone customers in the old 214 area code might have felt like they were on a merry-go-round. In September 1996, the territory was split and the 972 area code was born.

In December, the boundaries between 214 and 972 were eliminated, meaning that a customer in the territory could be assigned either code.

The skyrocketing demand for phone numbers is pushing the creation of new area codes. Computer modems, wireless phones, fax machines, pagers and burglar alarms need separate numbers.

John Moritz, (512) 476-4294
jmoritz@star-telegram.com