gilpatrick@odixie.enet.dec.com (05/01/91)
This article is from the 4/25/91 edition of {The Atlanta Journal}.
I'll transcribe directly, errors and all. There was a map
accompanying the article that showed the counties that will be in the
new 706 area, except that the AC boundry does not align with county
lines. It also showed Columbus GA in 706. Columbus is already in 912
and will stay there.
TWO AREA CODES SET FOR N. GEORGIA; OUTSIDE METRO ATLANTA TO GET 706
By Bill Hulstead, with Susan Laccetti & John Harmon (Atlanta Journal)
The number is up for North Georgia. It has outgrown the 404 telephone
area code.
So, in May 1992, some North Georgia residents will be getting a new
area code. Here's how it will work:
- The metro Atlanta area will keep the 404 area code. Anyplace Atlanta
residents can call as a local number will stay in the 404 area code.
- Everywhere else in the 404 area will change to 706. So if you live
in the 404 area and Atlanta is a long-distance call away, your area
code is changing.
Southern Bell was running out of numbers in the 404 area code, said
Carl Swearingen, the company's president for Georgia operations.
Besides natural population growth, more numbers were being taken up by
popular new devices such as cellular telephones and facsimile
machines.
Think that's a problem? Just wait: the country is running out of area
codes.
"There are just 152 area codes in existence," said Southern Bell
spokeswoman Pamela Fuller. "Of those, 144 are in use today and the
remainder are tentatively assigned."
Which meant Southern Bell had to fight to get the 706 area code. It
also means that, by 1995 at the latest, there won't be any more codes
available.
Nobody thinks the country will stop growing, so something will have to
give.
Two possibilities are being considered. One is adding an extra digit
to numbers dialed for a local call. So, by 1995, instead of dialing,
say, 555-1212, you may have to dial 5555-1212.
DIAL 10 NUMBERS?
Another solution is to require that ten digits be dialed for local
calls, just like you do for long-distance calls. That means you would
have to dial 1-404-555-1212 just to reach your neighbor.
The telephone system is simply running out of area codes and prefixes.
Fewer are available than you might think because area codes can't be
used as prefix numbers and prefix numbers can't be used as area codes.
For instance, you'll never see a prefix that uses 404, the area code.
In metro Atlanta's outlying counties, where the 404 area code will
soon be just a memory, civic leaders think the change could be a mixed
blessing.
"We'd like to be in metro Atlanta," said Dick James of the Newton
County Chamber of Commerce, located jut outside the toll-free zone.
"But there is a certain amount of charm to being a little rural."
In Helen, which is host to three million visitors annually, Welcome
Center Manager Millie Clements said the change will be an inconvenience
at first.
The change means some counties -- including Cherokee, Henry and Douglas
-- will have two area codes. The telephone company set the
area code lines so people who now call Atlanta without paying a
long-distance charge can continue to.
Customers in Cherokee's Woodstock area, where Atlanta numbers are a
local call, will stay on 404. North of that, customers will be in the
706 area code and continue to pay long-distance charges to call
Atlanta.Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <cmoore@brl.mil> (05/06/91)
Columbus, Georgia (zipcode 319xx) is in 404, not 912. So it will apparently go into 706. It's been said before: Phone prefixes and area codes won't necessarily line up with county boundaries. (Examples: The trouble with the people in New Castle County, Delaware who are on 302-653, which is mostly in Kent County; and my finding that Highland, Md., in Howard County, is on 301-854 and will NOT go into 410.) The rest of this message deals with the TRANSCRIBED ARTICLE only! Notice that the local calling instructions from the big city (in this case, Atlanta) will not change. I don't know what the meaning of "had to fight to get the 706 area code" is; 404 area already has N0X/N1X prefixes, and when it starts running short again, it has to apply for a split. In the following excerpt, the second sentence is contradicted by the messages you have seen in the Digest regarding N0X/N1X prefixes. Unless there is an NPA + 7D setup for local calls across area code borders, 404 is "legally" available as a prefix in 404, but out of courtesy (to avoid confusion when you give a number out orally) is not used as such there. > The telephone system is simply running out of area codes and prefixes. > Fewer are available than you might think because area codes can't be > used as prefix numbers and prefix numbers can't be used as area codes. > For instance, you'll never see a prefix that uses 404, the area code. Local calling areas and long distance charges are NOT changed by a split. The METHOD for making some calls does have to change. > The telephone company set the area code lines so people who now call > Atlanta without paying a long-distance charge can continue to.