HALIFAX - People living in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island will have the new area code 851 to remember starting May 27, 2028, according to a decision from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). “When an area code or area code complex runs out of assignable central office codes, a new area code is added to the geographic area served by the original area code(s),” the decision read. “This new area code is referred to as an overlay on the original area code(s). When it provides telephone numbers to the same geographical area as the original area code(s), it is considered a distributed overlay area code.” Nova Scotia and P.E.I. have had the 902-area code since 1947. The code 782 was added in 2014. “Technology is accelerating the rate in which existing exchanges fill up,” said technology analyst Carmi Levy, who added phone companies are running out of numbers, and are launching new area codes to solve the problem. “We used to be one phone number per household, one phone number per business, whereas now, everybody has a smart phone.” Ninety-one-year-old Fran Bright said the old days before area codes existed were so long ago, she can’t recall how phone calls were placed. Now with news of a new area code, Bright is taking the easy-going approach. “It probably wouldn’t make any difference,” she said. Some people who live in the Maritimes have sentimental attachment to the original area code, which will still be used but not added to new phone numbers. “I do have two 902 numbers,” said Halifax resident, Gary McPherson. “So, yeah, I understand, it’s our heritage.” Levy pointed out, area codes signal to the world where we come from. “We don’t think about it too often, but we put a lot of our personal identity into the phone numbers that we have,” said Levy. According to digital anthropologist Giles Crouch, like the 416-area code in Toronto, 514 in Montreal or 604 in Vancouver, 902 is woven into the regional fabric of Nova Scotia and P.E.I. “902 is part of our lifestyle,” said Crouch. “It’s our cultural identity like lobster or a lighthouse.” If anyone misses the old 902 area code, there is a way to buy it back but it’s not cheap. “There has been a growth in online phone number stores and people can just go online and look up numbers and the exchange that they want,” said Levy. “And they can pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to have a phone number in that original exchange.” With files from CTV Atlantic’s Sean Mott
