On Saturday the Triangle becomes the next region of the country to implement mandatory 10-digit dialing. The numbers from the 919 area code are exhausted, and instead of breaking part of that geographical region off into a new zip code (as was done in the past) the area will become home to two area codes, known as an “overlay”. New numbers will have a 984 area code instead of 919, and because the codes coexist in the same area, all callers will have to dial the area code when calling any number beginning Friday.

I received a text message notice about the upcoming change about a month ago from my carrier, Verizon. However my land line service is thru Vonage, and they have sent absolutely no notice of the upcoming change. Have you gotten notice from your landline carrier yet?

The change resurrects many old questions, though. If we have to dial 10 digits to call next door, then why do we have to use the “1+” prefix to dial numbers “outside of our area code”? The duality that exists between national calling on landlines that require the prefix and cellular services which have never used the prefix is baffling, for sure.

Even more interesting, though, is the question raised by Nilay Patel, a writer at the Verge: Why do we even have phone numbers? Phone numbers tied to a location and the technologies that have emerged in the last 15 years don’t seem to be compatible concepts. With Microsoft, Google, and Apple trying to unseat the two big telephony technologies, it’s likely that in 15 more years the model will have changed so much, that there could be plenty of available phone numbers in the 919 area code.