Many Fountain Hills residents have likely already noticed a change in how they dial a phone number when making a call.

In October the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began requiring callers to dial the 10-digit phone number when making a call, even when dialing a number with the same area code. In Arizona this change includes the 480 (Fountain Hills), 520 and 928 area codes. Seven digits will no longer work to make calls from these codes.

According to the FCC there are more phones in America than there are people, and each phone needs its own phone number.

Beginning in the early 1990s, to accommodate the growing need for more phone numbers, some areas began to add a second area code for local calls. Dialing both the area code and the seven-digit number was necessary to ensure the call reached the intended recipient.

As more area codes begin to run out of new seven-digit numbers to assign, a second local area code may be added, requiring that area to transition to ten-digit dialing.