If you dialed a Northeast Florida telephone number in the past few days the way you always have – by entering seven digits – chances are that you were not connected to your intended recipient.
Instead, you heard a recorded message: “To make this call, you must first dial the area code plus the phone number. Please hang up and try again.”
The recording took effect Jan. 29 to help people prepare for the Feb. 26 launch of the region’s 324 area code overlay, approved in May 2022 by the Florida Public Service Commission.