99 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
99 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
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>From: John Desmond
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>Subject: Area Code Article
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Patrick, I just came across this in my new issue of [Telephony] and
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thought it would be of interest to the Telcom Digest group. In my
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opinion it is a very well written article. There is a lot of
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interesting information in this short article.
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John Desmond US West Communications
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Network/Switching, Minneapolis, MN
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CIS 70725,1175 w) 612-378-1587
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Packet Radio K0TG @ WB0GDB
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PC Pursuit Net Exchange
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============================================================
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DIALING AWAY U.S. AREA CODES
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from Telephony Nov. 13 1989
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Used without permission
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Laura O'Brien
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Assistant Editor
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The current endangered species in the news may not be an animal at
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all. The number of available area codes in the United States is
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dwindling rapidly. Chicago consumed a new code Nov. 11 and New Jersey
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will gobble up another one on Jan. 1.
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There are only nine codes left, and they are expected to be used up
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by 1995, said Robert McAlesse, North American Numbering Plan administrator
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and member of Bellcore's technical staff.
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"In 1947 (Bellcore) started with 86 codes, and they projected
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exhaustion in 100 to 150 years. They were off by a few years,"
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McAlesse said.
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When the 152 available codes are exhausted, Bellcore will use a new
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plan for creating area codes.
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A total of 138 codes already are assigned. Five of the remaining
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14 codes are reserved for service access codes, and 9 are for
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geographic area codes.
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Under the current plan, a 0 or a 1 is used as the second digit
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while the first and last digits can range between 2 and 9. Under the
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new plan the first digit will be between 2 and 9 and the following two
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digits will be numbers between 0 and 9, McAlesse said.
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The new plan will create 640 potential area codes, he
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said. Bellcore isn't predicting when the newly created codes
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will run out.
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"The growth in new services and increase in the number of
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telephones are exhausting the codes. The biggest [increases] are
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cellular telephones, pagers, facsimile machines and new services that
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can have more than one number," McAlesse said.
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The current unassigned codes include 210, 310, 410, 706, 810, 905,
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909, 910 and 917. The Chicago area took the 708 code, and New Jersey
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will take 908.
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In the Chicago metropolitan area, the suburbs were switched from
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the 312 area code to the new 708 code. Residents and businesses
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within the city limits retained the 312 code.
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Illinois Bell started preparing for the change two years ago with
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the announcements alerting business customers to change stationary and
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business cards, said Gloria Pope, an Illinois Bell spokeswoman. Now
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the telco is targeting the residential market with billboard reminders
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and billing inserts.
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The cost of technically preparing for the new code, including
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labor, is expected to reach $15 million. But Pope said that does not
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include mailings, public relations efforts and business packages
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designed to smooth out the transition. The telco will absorb the cost
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with budgeted funds, and no rate increase is expected, she said.
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Modifying the network to recognize the new code started about six
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months ago with translation work. Every central office in the Chicago
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Metropolitan area was adapted with a new foreign-area translator to
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accept the new code and route the calls correctly, said Audrey Brooks,
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area manager-Chicago translations.
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The long distance carriers were ready for the code's debut. AT&T,
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US Sprint and MCI changed their computer systems to recognize the new
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code before the Chicago deadline.
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"We are anticipating a pretty smooth transfer," said Karen Rayl, US
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Sprint spokeswoman.
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Businesses will need to adjust their PBX software, according to
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AT&T technical specialist Craig Hoopman. "This could affect virtually
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every nationwide PBX," he said. Modern PBX's will take about 15
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minutes to adjust while older switches could take four hours. In many
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cases, customers can make the changes themselves, he said. [END]
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------------------------------
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Downloaded From P-80 Systems 403-744-2253
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