Oregon Public Broadcasting

The federal government assigned a new area code to the 541 calling area Tuesday.

Don’t worry, the new 458 area code isn’t expected to go into service until 2010.

Phone companies will simply start using it after the 541 numbers runs out.

Dave Sloane with the Oregon Public Utility Commission says they decided to lay the new number over the 541 area -- instead of splitting the area in two -- because in the past, splitting has caused problems.

David Sloane: “In 1995, Oregon did a split, when they split 503 and gave 503 to the Portland area and gave all the rest of the state 541. And we are still hearing from people that got caught in that split, where they had to change their telephone number.”

He says small business owners, like hunting and fishing guides, lost a lot of customers as clients on the east coast tried to call the old 503 number and couldn’t get through.

The drawback of laying 458 over the 541 area will be having to dial a 10 digit number when making a local call.