The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission on Wednesday, again reminded residents and businesses in the current 814 area code, which covers all or parts of 27 counties across Central and Northwestern Pennsylvania, to prepare for the start of mandatory 10-digit dialing for all telephone calls, which will begin on Saturday, April 3rd. For the last several months callers across the 814 area code have been able to use 10-digit dialing for local calls – to test their devices and prepare for the upcoming changes – and now is the time to get ready, if you have not done so already. The April 3, 2021, beginning of mandatory 10-digit dialing marks the next major step toward the arrival of a new “overlay” area code – 582 – which will eventually serve side-by-side with the current 814 area code. The 582 area code will be assigned to new telephone numbers once the available supply of numbers in the current 814 area code is exhausted. As of April 3rd, anyone attempting to make a call in the 814 area code using only seven digits (without the area code) will receive a recorded message prompting them to hang up and redial the call using the full ten-digit number (area code plus 7-digit phone number).