Press

Don’t Forget to Change the Dial-up Screen When New 815 Area Code Procedures Start When the new area code dialing procedures take effect Saturday, February 17, in what is now the 815 area code region, and consumers need to start adding an area code whenever dialing, there will be one more important place to remember to add those extra four digits – on their Internet Dial-Up Service provider home pages.

OWC.net and FasterMac.net, two national Internet Service Providers based in Woodstock, Illinois, have been proactively e-mailing customers to remind them of the needed changes. In addition, both home pages feature an alert to link to a user-friendly instruction page to help make the needed changes on their computers. Visit: http://www.fastermac.net/index.cfm
http://www.owc.net

“It’s one of those little things that needs doing, but is easy to overlook. Anything we can do at OWC.net and Faster Mac.net to make our customer’s lives easier, we are happy to do,” said OWC.net Customer Service Manager Ben Priest . Officials say using two area codes in the same region, called an “overlay,” is less disruptive than splitting a territory into two separate area codes. With an overlay, existing customers get to keep their current phone numbers. Starting March 17, the 779 area code will start to be assigned to some new phone numbers. The new code was approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission to address the need for new phone numbers for cell phones, fax machines and online services. The 815/779 area code territory stretches roughly across northern Illinois, touching the Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin borders, and includes major cities such as Rockford, LaSalle-Peru and Kankakee. OWC.net spokesperson available for interview questions. Contact Eileen Millard.