The 313 area code in the Detroit area is expected to run out of unassigned telephone numbers in 2025 and could swap out the beloved digits with 679.
Due to this, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) will hold a public hearing in Detroit in March to invite public feedback on a proposal to add another area code covering the city and several of its immediate suburbs.
Many residents their own opinions about this potential move and have expressed their feelings to the Commission, on social media and elsewhere with a majority discussing how the 313 area code is an institution and should not be changed.
Businesswoman Deana Neely told the Michigan Chronicle that as a lifelong Detroiter who has only used the 313 area code, she can’t fathom the number being done away with.
“[There is] nothing like the 313, nothing, OK?” Neely said of her love for the phone number, adding that she would not like the new area code if it’s changed. “No, I don’t want it. I mean, we’re known for [the] 313 area code. We have 313 everywhere on clothing and apparel.”
Many commenters on the Commission’s website are against the proposed area code change.
One commenter, Anthony Scannell, noted that the proposed overlay of 679 over 313 would not work because so many people identify with the numbers.
“Three-one-three has taken on a life of its own, creating a sense of identity around Detroit due to being associated with one’s own personal telephone number which they may be reached at, to also branding or representation with sports, music, fashion, politics and so many other cultural and economic touchstones,” Scannell said. “No longer assigning new numbers to the 313 area code could lessen those notions of community, of placemaking and of identity, which thereby could be quite deleterious to the well-being of Southeast Michiganders in ways not yet considered. Sadly, 679 just doesn’t have the same [impact] as 313.”
The 313 area code is expected to be exhausted by the third quarter of 2025, which means that many phone numbers within the area code are in use, with few to no new numbers available to assign, aside from those returned to the numbering inventory and reassigned following industry standard practice.
That will require applying a new area code that will cover the same geographic territory of the 313 area code, without splitting the current area code boundaries or requiring a change of numbers for existing phone users by moving existing 313 phones to a new area code. While the current 313 numbers will remain in place, new phone customers in the same territory may be assigned numbers with the 679 area code.
The 313 area code covers Detroit, its enclaves Hamtramck and Highland Park, and the suburbs of Allen Park, Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, Ecorse, the Grosse Pointes, Inkster, Lincoln Park, Redford Township, River Rouge and Taylor.
Besides having two area codes serving these towns, adding the 679 overlay also would require phone users to include area codes for local calls within and between the two area codes — meaning everyone with a 313 or 679 phone number will have to dial at least 10 digits, even for local calls. These calls will continue to be billed as local calls. This change will require the reprogramming of some devices such as auto-dialing equipment, medical devices and home security systems to accommodate the additional digits if that equipment is currently programmed to only dial seven digits.
Ryan McAnany, director of the Telecommunications Division, Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), told the Michigan Chronicle that the Commission established a public hearing regarding the next steps to solicit the public’s opinion in March.
“There will be Commission staff that [will make] a presentation before they open it up for comments from the public to help provide a better understanding and education on what’s happening,” McAnany said, adding that around May a final decision will be made regarding the proposed 679 area code change.
McAnany said that the proposed 679 area code was reserved 20 years ago for a moment like now.
“We’ve been able to put off having to take action until now,” he said.
In November, the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA), the agency in charge of administering telephone numbering plans in the United States, Canada and several Caribbean countries, petitioned the MPSC to implement the 679 overlay. While the overlay was first proposed in 2000, federal number policy changes and numbering conservation efforts postponed its implementation. The current NANPA petition explains that customer education, dialing plan best practices and technical milestones have changed significantly in the two decades since the overlay was first requested, and it requests that some changes be made to the old plan previously approved by the Commission to bring it up to date.
The Michigan Telecommunications Act grants the MPSC, which provides regulatory support for telecommunications providers, the authority to approve or reject area code changes in Michigan. The new area code would be phased into use, with dates to be determined, should the MPSC approve the overlay.
McAnany added that NANPA assigned the 679-area code as they oversee all the numbering throughout the country.
“They keep an eye on how things are going in other states. And this is an issue that’s just not happening in Michigan — it’s happening nationwide,” he said. “Which if you think about all the new devices being introduced and the new technology that requires telephone numbers associated with it pretty much makes sense that numbers run out. They’re not infinite.”
McAnany said the area code swap has happened before in Michigan with the 517 number, which was “much larger.”
“Then [it] was split off where you have now the 989 area code,” he said, adding that the 248 area code is the first one in Michigan that had an overlay [number], which is 947.
“An overlay is much, much easier for the customer than creating a whole brand-new area code because then everyone would be required to get new telephone numbers,” he said. “So having an overlay is much less intrusive to the customer.”
No changes to customer bills will occur because of this process.
The Commission has set a public hearing for 1:30-3:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 9, at Wayne County Community College District’s downtown campus, in the Frank Hayden Community Room #236, 1001 W. Fort St. in Detroit. An administrative law judge will conduct the hearing, and MPSC staff will provide a presentation outlining the issue.
Any person may attend the public hearing and offer comments on the overlay plan. The MPSC encourages interested parties to become involved in the proceedings, and any person may present data, views, questions and arguments regarding the plan.
Written comments regarding the plan also may be submitted by 5:00 p.m. March 20, 2023, by mail to Executive Secretary, Michigan Public Service Commission, P.O. Box 30221, Lansing, MI 48909, or by email to mpscedockets@michigan.gov.
To accommodate the potential 19-month implementation schedule, the Commission will issue a final order by May 31.
Watch recordings of the MPSC’s meetings on the MPSC’s YouTube channel, Michigan Public Service Commission.
For more information visit michigan.gov/mpsc/commission.
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