A new 867 phone exchange number will soon be added to Penn State's phone system to accommodate the need for more telephones at University Park.

Information Technology Services (ITS) spokeswoman Robin Anderson said Penn State has added 2,500 new phones within the last year. Anderson said that with the construction of new, larger buildings on campus, there has been a request for new phone numbers.

A new 867 phone exchange will be incorporated within the university to supplement the 863 and 865 phone exchange numbers that have become limited, she said.

"[This is] a pre-emptive strike to get new numbers," Anderson said.

The ITS engineering department has finished tests on the new phone exchange number to make sure that it works properly when it is placed into the Penn State phone system, Anderson said.

"We are just finalizing," she said.

Anderson said the 867 phone exchange number will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis, after 863 and 865 numbers run out.

"We will allocate as people need new numbers," she said.

Anderson said there are currently 18,000 phones on the University Park campus.

According to the ITS Web site, on-campus calls to the 867 number will work by dialing 7, then the last four digits of the phone number, the same as it has been in the past.

Fraser Grigor, associate director of special projects for Housing and Food Services, said he is unsure if the use of dorm room phones has gone up within the past semester.

"I don't believe we have any way of tracking that," he said.

He said the 867 phone exchange number should not be a problem if it is needed to replace the 862 number that is currently being used in the dorms.

"I think [students] can handle it," he said.

Grigor said students having to dial all seven digits of a local phone number rather than just the five that are required now may become a major change in the future. "It would take a lot of internal changes," he said.

Grigor said he has been in talks with ITS about this change, which could come about when the contract for dorm room phones ends in fall 2006.

There will be more talks with ITS as the time gets closer and all options will be discussed, he said.

"It won't be as simple as continuing the current contract," Grigor said.

Anne Reilly (sophomore-accounting), who currently lives in the dorms, said the change wouldn't matter to her.

"We don't even have our dorm phone hooked up," Reilly said.

She added that the small difference should not be a hard transition to make for those who use phones on campus.

Rachel Wenger (sophomore-nursing) said she also thinks it would be an easy transition to a different phone number exchange because most students do not use their dorm phones or other phones on campus anyway.