Mark Fischenich: Ask Us: Don't panic, but Mankato area running out of phone numbers

May 8—Q: The October 2021 North American Numbering Plan analysis stated that they expect Area Code 507 to run out of available phone numbers by Q2 of 2025. Do local leaders have any insight as to whether or not our area code will be split soon, or will we get an overlay?

Thank you!

A: First it was a shortage of toilet paper, then computer chips, and now we're running out of phone numbers.

Ask Us Guy checked the report referenced by this reader at https://nationalnanpa.com/reports/reports_npa.html.

And it's true.

Southern Minnesota's 507 area code is projected to exhaust the last of its available numbers by the second quarter of 2025. That's much sooner than anywhere else in Minnesota. The 218 area code is expected to have enough numbers for seven more years, the 320 code for 20 years, the 651 for 33 years, the 763 for 44 years and the 952 for 84 years.

So, that means in about three years, Mankatoans and others in southern Minnesota will have to start sharing numbers like the rural folks with party-line phones back in the early part of the last century, right?

No. Not right.

There will be two options, neither involving party lines. First, the region could be divided geographically with some parts of southern Minnesota retaining the 507 area code and other parts getting a new area code.

The second scenario involves the overlay mentioned by the reader. If that option is chosen, phone numbers in southern Minnesota could begin with either of two area codes. That means people will need to use 10 numbers to make a call or send a text rather than seven.

It's not as big a deal, of course, as it was in the 1990s when Minnesota had just three area codes and needed to add more because the supply of numbers was being depleted by population growth, the use of pagers, people adding lines for internet connections and the invention of mobile phones.

Back then, people literally dialed the phone numbers of the people they were calling every time they made a call. So doing an overlay meant people would have to dial 43% more numbers each time they made a local call.

By contrast, businesses in those days were seriously worried about being split off into a new area code because customers knew the existing phone number of their favorite businesses — either by memory or because they were written in address books or a "Rolodex" by their phone, in notes attached to their refrigerators, in business cards on their desks and in things called "phone books."

Now, most calls involve just tapping one of the names on a smart phone's list of contacts, meaning an overlay wouldn't matter as much. And if southern Minnesota was split, with half of the phone numbers getting a new area code, businesses might not be that worried. After all, most people can quickly do a search for a business' contact info on their phone and hit the telephone icon that pops up, never even looking at the actual phone number.

Maybe because times have changed, local officials don't seem to be too alarmed about the looming crisis in the 507 area. In fact, city officials haven't given it a thought at this point.

"I checked with multiple different departments and directors and we have no insight on how the rollout would happen," Mankato GIS coordinator Kurt Klinder told Ask Us Guy.

Even the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission isn't doing anything, indicating that action on the issue will wait until a request arrives.

"At this time, while we are aware of the North American Numbering Plan Administrator's (NANPA) projections for the 507 area code, we do not yet have a request before the commission seeking to change the 507 area code," said Tricia DeBleeckere, assistant executive secretary with the PUC.

DeBleeckere confirmed that the options considered will be to split southern Minnesota, with some part of it keeping 507 and another part getting a new area code, or to overlay another area code within the existing 507 area code geographic area.

"Once we have the filing from NANPA seeking 'relief' for the 507 Area Code, which may be made as soon as within the next few months, the commission will take public input and comments on the matter, and following, make a decision how to proceed with the 507 area code," she said. "So, the answer is that it is 'to be determined' what the outcome will be for the 507 area code."

For people fascinated by area-code history, Mankato was actually a 612 community when area codes were first put in place in 1947 and Minnesota had just two — 218 and 612, according to Wikipedia. The 218 area covered the entire northern and western halves of Minnesota.

In 1954, 507 was added and the lines of the others were redrawn to create three geographic areas stretching across the state from east to west. The southern band was 507, the middle band 612 and the northern was 218. The southern and northern area code zones have largely remained the same for nearly 70 years, but growing population density in the Twin Cities area forced the addition of four area codes in the central band — 320 (in 1996), 651 (in 1998) and 952 and 763 (in 2000).

Contact Ask Us at The Free Press, 418 S. Second St., Mankato, MN 56001. Call Mark Fischenich at 344-6321 or email your question to mfischenich@mankatofreepress.com; put Ask Us in the subject line.