There’s a new area code coming to Hampton Roads, and its name is “948.” The State Corporation Commission (SCC) announced that the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) has assigned a new area code to the Hampton Roads region that is expected to go into effect beginning September 11, 2021. The new 948 area code will relieve the future exhaustion of phone numbers starting with the 757 designation.
The 757 area code region includes Williamsburg, Franklin, and Suffolk in the west, Virginia Beach and the Eastern shore to the east, and all other communities in between. The area code was created in 1996, splitting off from the 804 area code, which was exhausted at that time. Current estimates predict the available numbers in the 757 region will run out during the fourth quarter of 2021.
No phone numbers that currently have the 757 designation will change. The new number will only be assigned to new phone lines. Under the plan, there will be a six-month grace period where calls made within the 757 number plan area can be completed using either the current seven-digit number or the ten-digit number including the new area code. After March 9, 2022, calls made from 757 phones to 948 numbers will require the full ten-digit number.