Friday, September 29, 2000

10-digit numbers become norm

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Use of area codes sign of urban growth

By Terry Flynn
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        Greater Cincinnati, like other major metropolitan areas, is showing a sure sign of growth: the need for more area codes, and 10-digit dialing across state lines and even in the same neighborhood.

Store owner Vance Wiegand, of Egelston-Maynard Sports in Covington, worries that Ohio customers won't be aware they have to dial 859 to reach him. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        On Sunday, Northern Kentucky officially breaks away from the old, familiar 606 area code and officially becomes the 859 region. Telephone customers had been able to use either area code for the past six months.

        On the Ohio side of the river, the 513 area code is rapidly running out of numbers, so the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio on Thursday approved an “area code overlay” to establish a second area code in the same geographic region as 513.

        The North American Numbering Plan Administrator in Washington, D.C., esti mates that the 513 area code will run out of numbers by the third quarter of 2001. That gave PUCO the choice of splitting the 513 zone and giving half of the phone users a new area code, or of establishing an overlay area code.

        All existing 513 area code subscribers will continue to use it, but when the 513 numbers are exhausted, new phone customers will have a new area code. That number has not been decided.

        PUCO officials also approved a request Thursday from the city of Springboro to move the areas now served by the Franklin exchange of the 513 area code to the 937 area code, including the cities of Springboro and Franklin, the village of Carlisle, and Clearcreek and Franklin townships.

        The 10-digit dialing is not a long-distance call, and there is no additional charge.

        PUCO Chairman Alan Schriber said dialing 10 digits for local calls “is a small price to pay for the features and conveniences we'll soon have at our disposal.”

        Cities including Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh and Atlanta use overlays. PUCO just approved a plan for 10-digit dialing in the 330/234 area codes in northeastern Ohio and 419/567 area codes in northcentral Ohio.

        What 10-digit dialing means to the telephone subscriber is that telephones, modems, fax machines and Internet dial-ups with memory dialing or programmed numbers will have to be changed.

        Businesses will have to adjust letterhead and advertising materials.

        “I think it's going to be very confusing when the new area codes are implemented,” said Vance Wiegand of Egelston-Maynard Sports in Covington, a major supplier of sports equipment to schools.

        “I'm sure I'll dial the seven digits the first few times before I'm used to it,” he said. “All the letterhead and labels have to be changed to the new area code. “I'm not so much worried as a business owner calling customers, but the customers calling me. If they don't get through because they didn't dial 10 digits, they may call another company.”

        The area code changes will have little or no effect on cell phone users. Most wireless customers must already dial 513, 606 or 812 when calling across state lines.

        For out-of-state calls that are currently local calls, there will be no need to dial the “1,” but callers must dial 10 digits. For in-state local calls, callers can still dial seven digits.

        The 859 area code covers Boone, Kenton, Campbell, Grant, Gallatin and Pendleton counties.
       

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