With the advent of the new year, residents of Toronto and its surrounding regions will have to remember more numbers than just 2001.
Thanks to the demands of a population boom, more businesses and technological advances, all available telephone numbers are nearly exhausted, making the seven-digit telephone number obsolete for those living in areas with the 416 and 905 telephone area codes.
Starting March 5, all Toronto residents will have to dial 10 digits -- the 416 code and the seven-digit telephone number. This includes local calls, which will not go through without the area code.
Anyone in Toronto who wants a new phone number after that date will also get a new area code: 647.
That means some households will have different area codes.
The new area code will double the telephone numbers available in the city.
Telecommunication experts urge people not to wait until the deadline set by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to begin reprogramming all autodial systems, including alarms, telephones, fax machines, modems, pagers and cellphones.
Problems could begin appearing as early as Jan. 8, the date that recorded messages will start reminding those who dial only seven digits that they must use 10 digits beginning in March. The messages could interrupt faxes and modems as they try to connect. The machines will then not accept the material being transmitted without the sender first dialling 10 digits.
Toronto residents calling to what is commonly known as the 905 areas -- the regions of York, Peel, Halton and Durham -- are already familiar with 10-digit dialling.
However, those living within those regions are not used to dialling so many numbers for local calls. They will have to do that as well, starting June 9, the date the CRTC has declared they must use their 905 code before dialling the seven-digit telephone number. Those within the 905 area code will start receiving reminder messages in the first week of April.
They will also get a different area code after June 9 if they want a new line: 289.
Toronto and its suburbs shared the 416 code until 1993, when the commission split it into two. It allowed Toronto to keep the 416 code, while the surrounding regions were given the 905 code. The two codes were supposed to provide sufficient capacity for another decade of service.
Toronto is not the only Canadian city to experience an explosive demand for telephone service. The Vancouver area will be assigned an additional area code for all new subscribers to go into effect Nov. 3, leading to 10-digit local calls there.
Montrealers are expected to get another area code -- they already have two -- and mandatory 10-digit dialling this year.