317 phone numbers are running out. Here's what's next.
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Have a phone number with a 317 area code? Hang onto it. We're almost out of them.
Why it matters: Area codes are often shorthand for regional pride, and the 317 is no different. There are 317 mugs, magnets and even restaurants. The Indiana Fever's 317 shirt sold out.
- There's even a 317 Day, celebrating everything that makes Indianapolis and its surrounding metro area awesome.
The big picture: Area codes are assigned by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA).
- Each area code contains 8 million phone numbers, though not all of those are available for distribution (think: 211s, 411s, 911s, etc.).
- NANPA assigns the numbers to phone service providers by prefix, the three digits that start a local phone number, which then distributes them to customers.
- When it looks like an area is close to exhausting its available prefixes, a relief plan is crafted.
Zoom in: For the 317 area code, it was projected that prefixes would be exhausted in 2016, so the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission requested a new area code overlay from NANPA.
Enter: The 463 area code.
- NANPA began assigning 463 numbers to service providers in 2017, the organization's data management manager, Heidi Wayman, told Axios.
- Major providers like Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile already have 463 numbers in their inventory.
- Providers, though, still had 317 numbers available to assign first. Plus, numbers get returned by exiting customers and can be reassigned after a cooling-off period.
The latest: Today, NANPA has only 190,000 of the original 8 million 317 numbers left.
- And those won't be distributed to providers until they've used a set percentage of their existing numbers — including any 463 numbers already in their bank.
Fun fact: 463 spells IND on a telephone keypad.
What we're watching: What happens when North America runs out of area codes.
- Wayman told Axios that it's projected to exhaust all available area codes (and, thus, phone numbers) by 2060, at which point we'll have to move to an entirely different phone-numbering system.
The bottom line: If you get a new phone number, there's no guarantee you'll get a 317.