7-digit dialing may end

[nathanm]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

Just looking at the area code map, it appears overlays are the are the minority.  Particularly in areas where there is one major population center.  I don't see any areas as large as the 918 that have an overlay.

It seems like the M.O. has been to standardize the area code around the largest population center and reassign the outlying areas.   Basically draw a line around metro Tulsa and tell Bville, Miami, and Kansas, Oklahoma they have a new number.

http://www.answering-services-phone-messaging.com/area_code_map.jpg

I prefer this for two selfish reasons:

1) I get to get my same number and business cards.

2) It makes Tulsa appear like a large city.  Most large cities have their own area codes, I want one too.  

New York, Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Charlotte, Chicago (at least the outlying areas that continued to expand), LA, San Francisco, Miami (Florida), Fort Lauderdale,  Orlando, Portland, Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta all have overlays.

West Virginia's new area code is going to overlay the entire state rather than split.

And an overlay means nobody has to replace business cards, signs, letterhead, or anything else.

Can someone with an at&t phone (or a Cox phone for that matter!) do me a favor and try to dial a number in Bartlesville as a 10 digit call? If they're doing what they do in Arkansas, it'll tell you that you have to dial a one to call that number, thus letting you know it's long distance.

I think splits are pretty dumb now that we can do overlays.

http://www.lincmad.com/areacodemap.html

All the area codes with a + after them have overlays.

[cannon_fodder]

Perhaps I wasn't clear.

What I was trying to say is that when there is a major population center in an area that needs to be split, generally the population center retains the area code without an overlay, and the outlying areas are reassigned.  That's how you end up with most major metro areas having their own bubble of area code.

Then, if the city continues to grow and need more numbers they put an overlay over the metro area.

To put it another way, there are no overlays that cover 1/3rd of a state.  They seem to avoid having large areas with overlays.  Metro areas have overlays, larger areas get split (barring West Virginia apparently).

See what I'm getting at?
- - -

Also, fwiw, when they do a split the old number works for more than a year.  It says "redirecting to new area code XYZ" for a while, then it makes you hang up and redial with the new area code, then it says that number has been transferred to XYA area code and no longer works.  It takes a very long time for numbers to just die.  Still a pain in the neck, but not a killer (as long as it doesn't happen to me:).

[nathanm]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder


What I was trying to say is that when there is a major population center in an area that needs to be split, generally the population center retains the area code without an overlay, and the outlying areas are reassigned.  That's how you end up with most major metro areas having their own bubble of area code.

That's mainly for historical reasons. Prior to 2000 or so, overlays were almost never done, as there were too many old mechanical central offices still in operation. That's how many of our largest cities ended up with a ring of area code splits around them. Even California, one of the most anti-overlay states has finally come around.

Just FWIW, on the size issue, the 706 & 772 overlay in north/northeastern Georgia isn't much smaller than a 918 overlay would be. And the impending 541/458 overlay in the non-Portlandish areas of Oregon will be much, much larger by land area than a 918 overlay would be.

If I were feeling a bit more industrious, I'd download the list of exchanges and rate centers in 918 and see how many there are outside of Tulsa and its immediate suburbs. I doubt there are all that many, thus making the utility of a split pretty minimal. An overlay is a far more efficient use of numbers.

[swake]

Then there is the cost to all the businesses that get their number changed. They will need things like PBX and phone systems reprogrammed, new signage, letterhead, and business cards. An overlay avoids all of that. No one changes their number, we just have to change our dialing habits.

[Steve]

My own personal preferrence is a split, leave Tulsa, Sand Springs, BA, Owasso, Bixby & Jenks as 918, all other 918 areas get a new code.  I will leave the ultimate solution to the authorities for whatever is the best, long-term solution.  In any case, we will all get used to it after a minor adjustment period, and it was bound to happen sometime.

[joiei]

quote:Originally posted by swake

 No one changes their number, we just have to change our dialing habits.

And for some of us old habits die a very hard death and I am guilty of resisting change.   But having been through this type of change once, it isn't as bad as you imagine.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by inteller

yes but you forget that the area that grew the most got reassigned a new area code.  When NW Arkansas outgrew 501, they simply carved off the area and reassigned them 479.

i don't think that will happen to Tulsa metro, but it could.

I think all of Arkansas was 501 until about 15 to 20 years ago wasn't it?

[nathanm]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71


I think all of Arkansas was 501 until about 15 to 20 years ago wasn't it?

479 permissive dialing began 01/19/2002. 870 permissive dialing began 04/14/1997. I had the chronology backwards in my head.

Good news for those wanting a split, though. The Tulsa metro only has 290 CO codes. While it's not very balanced, the slow growth rate of the outlying areas along with number pooling would make the split feasible from the standpoint of the new code having a while before exhaustion:

quote:
cocodes=# select count(npanxx) from utilized where npanxx like '918%' and available = 'Y' and ratecenter = 'CATOOSA' or ratecenter = 'BIXBY' or ratecenter = 'BIXBYNORTH' or ratecenter = 'BROKENARRW' or ratecenter = 'JENKS' or ratecenter = 'OWASSO' or ratecenter = 'SAND SPG' or ratecenter = 'TULSA';
 count
-------
   290
(1 row)

cocodes=# select count(npanxx) from utilized where npanxx like '918%' and available = 'Y';
 count
-------
   695
(1 row)

Unless there's more that people would generally consider 'tulsa and its immediate suburbs'

[PonderInc]

So, just b/c every 12-year old in the metro area "needs" a cell phone, I have to dial 10 digits?

Can't we just implement some rule that people 25-years-old and younger have to get the new area code, and people 26 and older get to keep their 918 area code and 7-digit dialing?   That way, you'd only have to dial 10 digits if you were calling a kid...which I would never have to do!

[TeeDub]

There are two meetings in OKC at the Commission regarding this...

They will both be held in Courtroom 301 at 9:30 a.m. on March 5th and April 2nd.

[nathanm]

quote:Originally posted by PonderInc

So, just b/c every 12-year old in the metro area "needs" a cell phone, I have to dial 10 digits?

Can't we just implement some rule that people 25-years-old and younger have to get the new area code, and people 26 and older get to keep their 918 area code and 7-digit dialing?   That way, you'd only have to dial 10 digits if you were calling a kid...which I would never have to do!

Yell at the FCC. They're the ones who require intra area code 10 digit dialing when overlays are done. (some BS about customers favoring businesses with the customer's own area code)

Nor do they allow overlays only for wireless phones. They had one like that in NYC that was grandfathered, but they started putting other things in that code a few years ago.

[nathanm]

quote:Originally posted by inteller

quote:Originally posted by nathanm

quote:Originally posted by inteller

yes but you forget that the area that grew the most got reassigned a new area code.  When NW Arkansas outgrew 501, they simply carved off the area and reassigned them 479.

i don't think that will happen to Tulsa metro, but it could.

Sure, but a couple of years later they split the rural areas of 501 off into 870. Didn't make much sense to me.

no they didn't... 870 came BEFORE 479.

I corrected myself yesterday. Regardless, that order of events is even more evidence for my position that splitting off rural areas isn't a good long term solution.

[Red Arrow]

Even in my lifetime there were party lines, semi-private(2 party) lines and local calling was 4, not 7 digit.  Maybe we need to do away with the term "area code" and just admit we need the capacity of 10 digits. Not my favorite idea but it may come to that. Who knows how long it will be until another group of digits will be added as we run out of 10 digit numbers.

[Red Arrow]

quote:Originally posted by inteller

well, I dont know any cell phone that wont dial 10 digits if you program the number that way.  I can't really remember the last time I dialed a number.  maybe at a hotel?

I don't call that many people on my cell phone. It is more trouble to learn to program it and then remember how to use the programming than to "dial" the digits.  The plus side is that if my phone is "misplaced", I don't have to worry too much about the info on it.

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by inteller

quote:Originally posted by Red Arrow

Even in my lifetime there were party lines, semi-private(2 party) lines and local calling was 4, not 7 digit.  Maybe we need to do away with the term "area code" and just admit we need the capacity of 10 digits. Not my favorite idea but it may come to that. Who knows how long it will be until another group of digits will be added as we run out of 10 digit numbers.

well, I dont know any cell phone that wont dial 10 digits if you program the number that way.  I can't really remember the last time I dialed a number.  maybe at a hotel?

And, in actuality, if I have my current phone (Sony/Ericcson w580i) not programmed with someone's name with the full 10 digit number, regardless of if they are withing the local calling area, it won't display the name when they call me as in my phone address book; it just displays the number.  So I store ALL my phone numbers with 10 digits (AT&T Wireless, but started out as Cingular).