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Because the region currently covered by the 845 area code is rapidly running out of new possible phone numbers that can be assigned to customers, a new area code was announced in April 2022 by the New York State Public Service Commission.
The new code has since been revealed to be 329, and will be put into use in the following counties that currently use the 845 code:
- Columbia;
- Delaware;
- Dutchess;
- Greene;
- Orange;
- Putnam;
- Rockland;
- Sullivan;
- Ulster;
- Westchester.
When the new 329 area code was initially announced, the commission had previously expected it to be introduced in the third quarter of 2023.
However, that date has since been pushed up to as soon as Friday, March 24, following an industry implementation call held by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator that determined a faster rollout of the 329 code was possible.
As a result of this decision, providers such as Charter and Onvoy have stated in outreach plans that they will begin assigning the 329 code to new telephone numbers in the region on that date.
The 329 code will be implemented to numbers belonging to residential, business, and wireless customers in an overlapping geographical area already served by the 845 code, which means that the two area codes will serve the same region, the commission announced.
Once the 329 code is introduced, it may be assigned to any customers in the affected counties who request a new telephone line or move.
All other existing 845 numbers would remain the same under the plan.
Although the area code may change for new numbers, other factors of telephone service including the price of a call, coverage area, or other rates and services will not differ, according to the commission.
Commission officials had said that the new "overlay district" created by the new 329 code would take around 28 years to run out of numbers.
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