[comp.dcom.telecom] Towns Split by LATA Lines

braden@lincoln.sw.stratus.com (John Braden) (03/02/90)

The town of New Braintree in Massachusetts has most of its telephones
listed with a North Brookfield exchange (508)867-XXXX, but another
part of the town which uses a Gilbertville (413)477-XXXX exchange.
These are not only separate area codes, but are also separate LATA's.
Although both area codes are served by New England Telephone (part of
NYNEX), town officials have been unsuccessful in getting the company
to do anything about unifying the town's phones into a single area
code. I guess NYNEX feels they should be grateful to have dial
service instead of hand cranks :-) 

Since my brother lives there and doesn't have access to the net, I
thought I'd ask for some help from your collective wisdom.  Is this a
common situation nationally?  What work would typically be required to
fix such a problem?  I assume it would be a pre-requisite to being
able to provide things like 911 service to the town.  How is the
timetable for such service upgrades established, and what would help
to bring more attention to the matter?  You may reply via email or
follow up to the moderator if you feel it's of general interest.
Thanks!

						John Braden

msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu (Mark Robert Smith) (03/05/90)

With the coming 201/908 split looming, several NJ legislators (or
maybe it was the US congress?) have either introduced or threatened to
introduce legislation which would require that every municipality be
entirely in a single area code.

This came as a response to several NJ townships being split by the
201/908 boundary.


Mark Smith, KNJ2LH                All Rights Reserved
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New Brunswick, NJ 08903-5063              msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu

cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) (03/05/90)

I recall hearing of adjustments being made in the then-proposed
213/818 border to avoid splitting communities.  Notice that 201/908 is
currently still future.  But the situation you write of in
Massachusetts was on the 413/617 boundary (right?), until that part of
617 went into 508.