gast@cs.ucla.edu (David Gast) (12/14/89)
Just out of curiosity, why is it that when an Area Code becomes full,
it is split when it might make more sense to alter the boundaries of
neighboring area codes. There are many examples. 201 is being split,
yet 609 its neighbor to the South in New Jersey is almost empty. 312
has just been split, yet 815 which used to surround 312 in Illinois
has plenty of room. Similarly it was just announced that 213 would
split into 213 and 310, yet 714 and 818 are hardly busting at the
seams and 805 and 619 have plenty of room.
On a related note, the 213 split is said to have occurred because of
the growth of cellular and fax lines (and probably centrex and numbers
which are used but not associated on a one to one basis with physical
lines). It seems to me that rather than pass the cost of this split
onto every individual in the country, that the cost should be born by
those who are causing the trouble. Given the prevailing socialism for
the rich and powerful, however, everyone will pay.
Finally, the LA paper seemed to gloat over the fact that LA would be
the first city with 3 area codes and 4 if you include 714 in Orange
County. It obviously never appeared to the editor that NYC has 2 area
codes and 5 if you count contiguous, metropolitan areas. 201 is right
across the Hudson; 516 is on Long Island just past the city boundary.
914 includes Westchester County which is just North of the Bronx.
Finally, 203 is in Conn. I can't remember for sure if it touches NYC;
I seem to recall that Conn is only a few miles away from NYC. (Note:
I do not believe that Orange County ever touches LA either). As far
as I can tell, an extra area code just means more dialing; it is not
great accomplishment.
[ The minor geographical issues involved are not worth many
follow-ups. This is TELECOM Digest, not alt.geography.trivia. Please
send me your information. I can then summarize to the Digest if
necessary. Please do not copy the Digest. ]
David Gast
gast@cs.ucla.edu
{uunet,ucbvax,rutgers}!{ucla-cs,cs.ucla.edu}!gastnomdenet@venera.isi.edu (12/15/89)
On Tuesday Pacific Bell and General Telephone jointly announced that on February 1, 1992, 2.4 million telephones in the western and southern parts of Los Angeles will be assigned area code 310. The cause is L.A.'s "voracious" appetite for new technology -- cellular telephones, pagers, facsimile machines, and modems. "Simply put, we are running out of telephone numbers," said Dominic Gomez, Pacific Bell area vice president. This marks the first time demand for technology has been more important than population growth in the introduction of a new code. "It looks like we use this technology more intensively here in L.A. than in New York," said Larry Cox, a spokesman for GTE California. In 310 will be the coastal areas -- from the Ventura county line on the west to Long Beach on the south -- Westwood (UCLA), Beverly Hills, and South Central L.A. Downtown L.A. and Hollywood will remain in 213. 213 will border 310 at La Cienega Blvd. on the west, El Segundo Blvd. on the south, and 818 on the north & east. Small parts of Culver City and Beverly Hills will be split between 213 and 310; 213-255, -257, -258, and -852 won't become 310. "They" tried to divide 213 so that the two pieces would grow at similar rates. 310 was chosen because seven of the nine area codes available already were assigned as prefixes in 213, leaving 210 and 310 -- and they judged 310 was easier to distinguish from 213. There will be the usual three-month grace period between Feb. 1 and May 1, 1992, when phone calls to former 213 prefixes still will go through. A. R. White USC/Information Sciences Institute 4676 Admiralty Way Marina Del Rey, California 90292-6695 (213) 822-1511, x162 -- (310) xxx-xxxx after 1/31/92 (213) 823-6714 facsimile ARPA: nomdenet @ ISI.edu
cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) (12/16/89)
Is 310 to: Border area 805 on the west? Include Malibu? When 818 was formed, JSol (a former Telecom moderator) pointed out that there are some "Los Angeles" prefixes which serve as "foreign" exchanges in places like Burbank, with such "foreign" prefixes staying in 213 although the other exchanges serving that (e.g. Burbank) area went into 818. Are there any such "foreign" exchanges in what will become 310 area?