Calling an 850 number? You’ll need ten digits from now on.

The 850 area code generally covers the northern portion of Florida, known as the panhandle, and communities such as Pensacola, Panama City and Tallahassee.  The 850 NPA is also the home of Eglin and Tyndall Air Force Bases.  The new 448 area code will serve the same geographic area currently served by the existing 850 area code.

To complete local calls, the new dialing procedure requires anyone with an 850 or new 448 area code to dial area code + telephone number or 1 + area code + telephone number. This means that all calls in the 850 area code that are currently dialed with seven digits will need to be dialed using ten digits.

Beginning February 20, 2021, you must use the new dialing procedures, as described above. On and after this date, if you do not use the new dialing procedures, your calls will not complete. A recording will instruct you to hang up and dial again, including the area code.

Beginning March 20, 2021, new telephone lines or services may be assigned numbers using the new 448 area code. Anyone that receives a 448 area code telephone number must use the new dialing procedure described above.

In addition to changing your dialing procedure, all services, automatic dialing equipment, or other types of equipment that are programmed to dial seven digits will need to be reprogrammed to use the new dialing procedure. Some examples are life safety systems and medical monitoring devices, PBXs, fax machines, Internet dial-up numbers, alarm and security systems or gates, speed dialers, call-forwarding settings, voicemail services, etc. You may also want to check your personal or business stationery, checks, advertising materials, websites, contact information, and personal or pet ID tags to ensure the area code is included in the telephone number.

• Your telephone number, including current area code, will not change.
• The price of a call, coverage area, or other rates and services will not change due to the overlay.
• What is a local call now will remain a local call, regardless of the number of digits dialed.
• You can still dial just three digits to reach 911.
• If 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, 711, or 811 are currently available in your community, you will still dial these codes with just three digits.

If you have any questions regarding information provided in this notice, please access http://www.floridapsc.com/ for more information.