New 472 area code starts Friday in southeast NC — Fayetteville, Wilmington, Jacksonville

Starting Friday, new telephone numbers issued to people and businesses in Southeastern North Carolina may start with the region’s new 472 area code.

This new area code will operate along with the area’s existing 910 area code. Telephone numbers that have the 910 area code will stay with the 910 area code — the new area code will be given only to newly issued phone numbers, the North Carolina Utilities Commission has said.

The 472 area code is being added because the 910 area code is running out of telephone numbers, the Utilities Commission said. As telephone companies over the next months start to exhaust the 910 telephone numbers in their inventories of telephone numbers, they will start issuing numbers with the 472 area code. The phone companies are expected to run out of all of their 910 numbers in the first three months of 2023.

The new 472 area code serves the same geographic area as the 910 area code. That includes Fayetteville, Fort Bragg and Cumberland County, Lumberton and Robeson County, Wilmington and New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties, and Jacksonville, Camp Lejeune and Onslow County.

Calls made from a 910 telephone number to a 472 telephone number will not be long-distance if both numbers are local to each other. For example, a call from a 910 Fayetteville number to a 472 Fayetteville number would be a local call.

Businesses ponder:Will they lose their ‘910’ identity with the 472 area code?

Previous coverage:New 472 area code to take effect in Cumberland, New Hanover, Onslow counties in October

However, calls made to numbers outside the local area, such as from a 910 number in Fayetteville to a 472 number in Wilmington, could incur long-distance charges if the telephone providers charge extra for long-distance calls. This is the same as has long been true for calls from Fayetteville to Wilmington when both numbers are 910 numbers.

Businesses, others should check if their telephones will dial the 472 area code

With the new 472 area code coming online, businesses and other organizations — both in Southeast North Carolina and elsewhere — should verify that their office telephone systems will dial it. Some office telephone equipment and networks may need to be updated. Otherwise, the office equipment may not allow calls to be made using the new area code.

“Verify that all services and equipment — such as automatic dialers, life-safety & medical alert systems, alarm/security systems and security gates, call-forwarding settings and voicemail services — recognize the new area code as a valid phone number,” the state Utilities Commission said.

To help businesses and others verify that their office telephone networks, fax machines and other equipment will dial the new 472 area code, a test number with the 472 area code has been set up and is operational now. The number is 472-472-1472.

To test whether your phone system or other equipment will work with the new 472 area code, have it dial both 472-472-1472 and 1-472-472-1472.

If the 472 area code works with your telephone equipment, you will hear a recording that says, “You have reached the test number for the new NPA 472.”

Senior North Carolina reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: 472 area code starts in North Carolina from Fayetteville to Wilmington