[comp.dcom.telecom] CO's Split Across AC's

Jack.Winslade@f666.n285.z1.fidonet.org (Jack Winslade) (09/05/90)

A while ago we had a discussion on CO's that straddle area code
boundaries and are dialable as more than one.  If you remember, we
found one here in the Omaha area which was -- in SOME cases --
dialable either as 402 or 712.  I recently returned from a trip to the
Black Hills area of South Dakota.  (Deadwood: Las Vegas of the
Midwest. ;-) I stumbled upon many examples of CO's split between the
308/605 codes or the 402/605 codes.  I don't know how many of these
there are.  There may be hundreds.  I saw more in the local phone
books than I can remember.
 
These were cases where there are communities right on or near the
Nebraska - South Dakota border.  They often appear in such form as
'Whatnot, SD' and 'South Whatnot, NE' or 'Cornholdt, NE' and 'North
Cornholdt, SD'.  (I forget the actual names, but these are typical.)
These communities are VERY small.  If you think Omaha is out in the
toolies ... we are talking major sticks here.  These towns are only a
few hundred in population, if that.  From the limited amount of
dorking around I found time and place to do, I determined that these
were all SxS offices (with some REALLY funky ringback and busy tones)
which maybe served 100 or so subscribers on both sides of the border.
These offices came nowhere near to filling up a complete 1000's group
out of an office code.  In some cases, the NNX were the same in both
area codes, in some, they were different.
 
In every case, the same lines (and vacant levels, etc.) could be
reached via either AC.  My conclusion is that in the 48 states, there
are potentially thousands of examples of 'split' central offices if we
consider all of the rural communities that are adjacent to or straddle
state lines.

Good Day!       JSW

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[Moderator's Note: An example of that here was 414-396 / 312-396.
Antioch, IL was 312-395. North Antioch, WI is 414-396, but was dialable
from *Antioch only* as 396+4D. To reach the *real* 312-396 residents
of the village of Antioch had to dial one plus. 414-396 is Illinois
Bell's one incursion into the 414 area. Now, Antioch is 708, but so is
Blue Island, IL where the 'real' 708-396 lives. I don't know what they
do up there now.  PAT]

David Tamkin <dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com> (09/24/90)

Jack Winslade wrote in volume 10, issue 619:

| A while ago we had a discussion on CO's that straddle area code
| boundaries and are dialable as more than one.  If you remember, we
| found one here in the Omaha area which was -- in SOME cases --
| dialable either as 402 or 712.  

| [There] were cases where there are communities right on or near the
| Nebraska - South Dakota border.  From the limited amount of
| dorking around I found time and place to do, I determined that these
| were all SxS offices (with some REALLY funky ringback and busy tones)
| which maybe served 100 or so subscribers on both sides of the border.
| These offices came nowhere near to filling up a complete 1000's group
| out of an office code.  In some cases, the NNX were the same in both
| area codes, in some, they were different.

| In every case, the same lines (and vacant levels, etc.) could be
| reached via either AC.  My conclusion is that in the 48 states, there
| are potentially thousands of examples of 'split' central offices if we
| consider all of the rural communities that are adjacent to or straddle
| state lines.

Ah, how different rural life is from urban life!  Here in Chicago the
prefixes dialable as either 312 or 708 are in CO's whose area coverage
is not split, and prefixes in CO's whose coverage areas *are* split
are dialable only as one area code or the other, not as both, and
require eleven digits to be reached from the other side of the line
and the correct area code to be reached from the rest of the world.

For examples, (708) 591 [choke prefix], (708) 796 [customer name and
address], and (708) 976 all are aliases for their area code 312
namesakes and are switched in the Canal East office.  I believe that
anyone outside area code 708 must dial these as 312; inside 708
dialing 1312+7D to reach them is forbidden, and only 7D will work.
<(708) 950 might similarly be an alias for (312) 950, but it might be
separate; one would never dial another area code's 950 anyway.>

On the other hand, (708) 825 and (312) 825 are both wired from the
Park Ridge CO, but neither is an alias for the other as a dialing
convenience; they are two separate prefixes.  I wouldn't be at all
surprised if some larger customers had identical numbers on (708) 825
and (312) 825 assigned to them, but both must be wired in or one must
be forwarded to the other if they are to ring in the same place.  And
yes, to call between the two 825's one has to dial eleven digits.

I imagine that rural CO's straddle an area code boundary only when
they spread across a state line; an intrastate area code boundary in a
rural area just about never would divide a CO's territory.


David Tamkin  Box 7002  Des Plaines IL  60018-7002  708 518 6769  312 693 0591
MCI Mail: 426-1818  GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN  CIS: 73720,1570   dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com