cmoore@BRL.ARPA.UUCP (06/06/87)
Area code 301 here (202 also useable near DC). There are some hints that prefixes are in short supply in Maryland. I checked with the operator just now and got 286 Berwyn and 878 Fort Ritchie. 286 had been listed in older directories as Clarksville (since Clarksville has 531 for Columbia service and 988 for Ellicott City service--531 local to Balt. city and 988 for Balt. metro area service--you wonder what now appears on the pay phones in Clarksville). 878 does appear in the Md. suburban direc- tory as Silver Spring (Fort Ritchie is far outside DC area); some older sour- ces have 878 as Fort Ritchie (Balt. City service). 369 is listed as Laurel (Berwyn service, which is to DC metro). 703-369 is at Manassas, Va., immediately adjacent to the calling area from DC proper. (There already is 301-490 at Laurel, Md. and 703-490 at Woodbridge, Va.) 738 is listed at Rockville, in the DC area. Previously, there was no 301- 738, but there's a 738 at Ridgely, W. Va., across the Potomac from, and local to, Cumberland, Md., causing me to wonder if it was "protected"; if that 738 is still there, you can now call 738-xxxx from Cumberland to Ridgely (W.Va.) and 1-738-xxxx from Cumberland to Rockville.