THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 15, 1994 TAG: 9411150519
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Short : 28 lines
Phone customers: re-check those numbers in your speed dialers.
Right after midnight tonight, if you are making a long-distance call within the 804 area code, you will need to add 804 to the number.
Until now, customers of Bell Atlantic-Virginia and GTE-Virginia have been able to dial just 1 or 0 and then the last seven digits of the number when they are calling long distance within 804.
But because of the rapid growth in phone numbers in Virginia and elsewhere in the country, phone companies have had to increase the number of digits in phone numbers and use new number combinations.
For instance, a new 540 area code will next year be carved out of what is now the 703 area code in western and Northern Virginia. That is a departure from the traditional practice of using 0 or 1 as the second digit in area codes.
KEYWORDS: TELEPHONE NUMBER PHONE NUMBER by CNB