Informal poll: telephone numbers

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve got a simple question, and I thought I’d bring it to the smartest people on the web (in our opinion).

This only applies to those unfortunate souls who are mired in the North American Numbering Plan (US, Canada, Central America, the Carribean, and odds and ends in the Pacific Ocean like Guam and American Samoa) for telephone numbers. People living elsewhere are free to point and laugh.

To review what we already know: in our neck of the woods a ten digit telephone number consists of a three-digit area (NPA) code, a three-digit exchange (NXX) code, and a four-digit station number thusly: (NPA) NXX-XXXX. The area code designates a relatively large geographic area (duh), the exchange code identifies a distinct rate center within that area, and the station code identifies a particular phone in that rate center*, right? Right. Good.

Lets say that your area code is running out of assignable exchange codes, and you need a new area code to handle further growth. You only really have two options: overlay a new code on top of the existing one, or split the area code area (man, that’s clunky) in two parts, one of which keeps the old code while the other gets the new one. Either way, your seven-digit phone nember (NXX-XXXX) won’t change.

Which would you prefer?

Overlay: Your area code doesn’t change, but you have to dial all ten digits (11 in some places because you also have to dial the leading “1”) for every call even to numbers in the same area code.

or

Split: Your area code might change, but within your new (smaller) area code you can still just dial seven digits.

This is all either blindingly obvious or horribly confusing, and I’m too close to it to tell.

I’m not so much simply counting votes here, but soliciting opinions and the reasoning behind them. I want to hear (well, read) your thoughts.

If your area code happens to be “315” I really, really want to see your opinion.

  • For those of you saying “Exgineer, you moron, what about cell phones, VoIP, OnStar, special circuits and other stuff like that?” I’ll have to answer “Yeah, I know.” One headache at a time, folks.
2

Regardless, you’ll need to know what the area code is for any given number – either because you’ll need to dial it anyway, or because you may or may not. It’s not that hard to “dial” (press) three extra numbers. Unless you make the vast majority of your calls to people who are currently in your area code [i.e., those who will presumably be grandfathered in with an overlay], there’s no real reason to prefer an overlay.

twicks, who lives in Philly where they went to “you always have to dial ten numbers” about five years ago

3

The NYC metro area has already been through all of the things you mention - code splits by geography, overlays, and mandatory 10-digit dialing. Frankly, there are so many codes in use around here now that it’s hard to avoid having to dial 10 digits, anyway.

At this point, trying to remember if the phone I’m dialing from is in the same area code as the number I’m calling, so that I’d only have to dial 7 digits, is too much work. :stuck_out_tongue:

4

Personally, I don’t care. I’ve experienced both kinds: splits and overlays. Overall, I think overlays have a slight advantage in that no existing phone number gets a new area code. Thus, nobody has to change printed matter (business cards, letterheads, etc) that has the phone number printed on it. Of course, you can end up with two lines in the same house with different area codes, but I just think that’s funny for some reason. Either approach can lead to situations where some people don’t have what they consider the ‘prestige’ area code: in an overlay, some new lines won’t get it; in a split, some lines that used to have it, lose it. I was always amazed by those complaints, but many people were quite passionate about it.

I don’t think that occasionally being required to dial ‘1’ before some numbers in the same area code isn’t new and doesn’t originate with splits/overlays.

5

I dial 10 digits anyway. For a while, we had to, and then we didn’t - in fact, couldn’t - but now it seems to work either way. I think. I’m not sure, 'cause I haven’t tested it lately. I hated 10 digits at first, but once I got into the habit of doing it, it was no big deal. It is easier to learn everyone’s number as 10 digits instead of some as 10 and some as 7. The rhythm is consistent.

We’ve got at least five area codes in my current “geographic area” if I’m allowed to go just 50 miles out: 773, 847, 312, 708 and 815. That doesn’t include, as you say, the cell phone issue.

6

I live in SC, just across the river from Augusta, GA, which started requiring 10-digit dialing last year. If we call over there from home, we have to use 10 digits, but if we are calling within our county in SC, we only have to dial 7. If I am over there, I have to dial 10 digits regardless, whether I am calling back home or not. It’s like second nature now, but took some getting used to.

7

I would have preferred an overlay with 10-digit dialing to the split we ended up doing when our area code changed in 1998.

As it stands now, if we call a number in our own area code (727), we dial seven digits. If we call a number in what used to be our area code (813), we dial ten digits, but not the 1. If we dial 1, the phone lady comes on and tells us that we don’t have to and then hangs up.

If we call another area code that used to be contained within 813 (941, 863, 352), then we DO have to dial the 1.

This is all from a landline. If you’re using a cellphone, you of course don’t have to dial 1, because the ten-digit number will always work from a cell. I keep all the phone numbers in my cell with their area codes so that I can always use them whether I’m in that area code or not.

There are other markets in Florida (Broward and Dade Counties, Orlando metro) that use overlays, and I would have preferred that much more than my county getting its own area code and all of us having to notify everyone we knew that it had changed.

8

We’ve been doing it the “overlay” way in NE Ohio for quite a long time now. We’re all 216, 330 or 440. I live in 330, but a special part of 330 where some 330 numbers are long distance (Akron) but no 216 numbers are. And I think some 440 numbers are long distance too but I don’t associate much with those people :wink:

It’s no big deal to dial 10 numbers.

9

The overlay option has been a reality in Toronto for upwards of 10 yrs now. Nowadays, someone within my local calling area could have any one of four NPAs: 416/647 for Toronto proper, and 905/289 for the suburban areas. I can barely remember the days of 7-digit dialling to be honest and I certainly can’t remember the last time anyone gave me their number without prefacing it with their area code - it’s pretty much second nature now.

There’s definitely still a stigma about getting a 647 or 289 number, despite the fact that they’ve been in use for so long… I work for a major cellular provider, and it’s not unusual to have a customer back out of a cell phone activation simply because we’ve run out of available 416 numbers (which is not an infrequent occurrence these days, especially during busy seasons like back to school or the winter holidays).

10

I think everybody should just have one, distinct telephone number, which need not be rational. I call dibs on pi.

11

Thanks for the responses. This is by no means hypothetical; I really do need a sense of how people are thinking, and so far it seems like an overlay is no big deal.

Personally, I favor an overlay, because it’s the least expensive, easiest, and least disruptive option out there. Unfortunately, some people seem to be welded to seven digit dialing for some reason, which I don’t understand in the age of speed-dial.

Also unfortunately, we’ve set precedents in New York. Aside from the NYC mess that Jean Gray mentioned (which belongs in the “Boy, we really could have done a better job with this” file), every other place we’ve been forced to relieve (Long Island, the lower Hudson valley, and western NY) we did splits. Non-standard “illegal” splits at that.

Anybody on the SDMB from Syracuse?

12

Technically, yes, but I’m not likely to be helpful. My only phone at this time is a cell phone paid for by my mother, so my area code is the same as hers. This means that I probably would prefer a system that encouraged people to give phone numbers starting with the area code (and expect people to provide phone numbers that way–I hate it when people have to retype my number because they didn’t figure out it was a cellphone, and I don’t do it often enough to think about it in advance).

On the other hand, I’m not promising to stay put, and I don’t make or recieve that many calls, so it’s not a big deal either way.

13

Overlay, overlay, overlay.

I remember the constant area code changes from the 1990s. That sucked. Having to change all references to your phone number, having to hunt around, pre-internet for the “new” area code for someone you don’t call often and all the other headaches associated with it.

14

Phone numbers are 10 digits. Get used to it. So overlay is the only customer friendly option.

15

I grew up in Broward County and currently live in the Orlando metro area. Broward had a LOT of funny changes going on when I was growing up; the first was to change everyone’s area code in Palm Beach to 407 from 305. Then it got populous enough in the areas between Palm Beach county and Orange County to change Palm Beach’s area code to 561; at the same time, everyone in Broward got changed to 954. Within a few years of 954 being activated, a second area code emerged in Broward-- 754, which used to be the “cell phone” area code, but is now mixed enough that some people have 754 for landlines and some have 954 for cell phones. When that came in, we switched to 10 digit dialing. It certainly made things easier, as you had to remember the area code for the number you were dialing and every number had more or less the same rule within a certain distance of your landline. (We were in northern Broward, so we were “dial 1” free for half of Palm Beach and half of Broward. Weird, eh?)

Now that I live in the Orlando metro area, there’s 407 and 321 in Osceola an Orange counties. I still have my 954 number on my cell phone, as I haven’t switched carriers; this is pretty common, though, as you’ll see people calling from any of the South Florida numbers to local businesses and will be “locals.”

Strangely enough, a large portion of the panhandle and “armpit” of Florida is 850; then again, there’s a lot of BFE in that area compared to Orlando and southward.

16

As Mahna Mahna said, the Greater Toronto Area (most of Ontario, actually) uses ten-digit dialing, and either has overlays or is about to have them. Yes, there was disruption when ten-digit dialing came in, but the advantage is now ours. If Toronto fills up with skyscraper condos and they have to add a third area code, nothing will change for any of the existing users.

Yes, most of Ontario uses ten-digit dialing: Toronto has area codes 416 and 647; Surrounding Toronto has 905 and 289; Southwestern Ontario has 519 and 226; Eastern Ontario has 613 and there are rumours of an impending 343. Only 705 (north central Ontario) and 807 (Northwestern Ontario) use seven-digit dialing.

The really annoying thing about our dialing plan is that we have mandatory “toll alerting”: we must dial 1+area code+exchange+line number for a long-distance call, but we cannot dial the one in front of a local call. The one is the ‘trunk dialing digit’. (For special calls, like collect, you use a zero in its place, but I’ll ignore that.)e

There are many places in the ten-digit-dialling area that require long-distance calls to connect, but you cannot tell this from the number you are dialling, because it also depends on where you are dialling from.

So if you are in the city of Mississauga, calling from a number that starts with 905-812, and you want to call a number 905-877-xxxx in the neighbouring town of Georgetown, you start dialing with 905-877, and the system says, “That is a long-distance call. Please dial one plus the ten-digit number.” So then you dial 1-905-877-xxxx and the call goes through.

Now, imagine that you are in the city of Brampton, which is right next to Mississauga, and you are calling from a Brampton number 905-459-xxxx. You dial 905-877-xxxx and the call goes through. If you dial 1-905-877-xxxx, the system will say, “This is not a long-distance call. Please do not dial the one.” and not let the call go through.

But Bell should allow you to dial ‘1+area code+exchange code+line number’ on any call. There is absolutely no reason to forbid it as an option on local calls, even if those calls are usually dialed without the leading one. This could be interpreted as, “I am willing to pay a toll on this call if it needs it; I don’t know whether it does.”

This is precisely the situation where I work. My office is in Mississauga, within sight of Brampton. Georgetown is just to the northwest, about a 15-minute drive away. For historical reasons, the Bell landline system tends to allow local calling from outlying communities to and from Toronto, the major urban centre, much more than it alows local calling among the outlying communities themselves.

I keep my number in full international format, with +1 in front, on speed dial on my GSM cellphone, with a good long-distance plan, so I never have to worry about this kind of thing.

(In this case, the + means “country code follows, insert international dialing access code here” and the 1 is the country code for North America, so I don’t need to change anything if I go overseas, but I won’t get into that.)

17

You’ll never get any calls because no-one will be able to finish dialling it. :slight_smile:

18

I’ve been through both, and I hated overlay. No longer could I tell if a phone number was close, physically, or not. With a split, I could still tell if the exchange was in a neighboring area. With the overlay, all I knew was it was someplace in the huge area.

Has any area actually done the intelligent thing and (I know you said not to mention it, but since when does anyone here listen to that) just move all the modems, faxes and cell phones off to the new area code? I’ve not run across that being used. It seems so easy. What’s the downfall?

19

I think they started to do that with the original 917 overlay in New York, which was supposed to be for cellphones only, but then the FCC or someone stepped in and said it was unfair. Area codes could not be allocated according to the use of the numbers.

20

Been the victim of both plans at one time or the other. I prefer splitting the district, don’t care for the overlay approach. Obviously the most ideal situation possible is that they split the district and you luck out by being in the part of town that keeps the original area code, but I mean I prefer district-splitting even when I’m the one who has to change my area code.

When they do them right, the district-splitting involves a pretty decent extended transition period during which folks dialing your number using the old area code are given a message that the area code has changed, then the call is still forwarded. Eventually they’ll need to use your phone number with the old area code for someone else, and at that point they have no way of knowing whether the caller is using the old area code on purpose for that new person or was intending on caling you, and at that point no more message and mo more call-forwarding.

The biggest hassle with the overlay strategy for me is that I’m a database geek and in any zone not already afflicted by overlay, if there are db’s that dial (voice or FAX or, in the olden days, dialup TCP connections), there will be rules that say if AreaCode of number being called = GlobalSettings::CallerAreaCode, dial only the PhoneNumber, otherwise dial 1 & AreaCode & PhoneNumber. Then overlay gets dropped in and every one of those db’s have to be tweaked to accomodate the change. (Of course having been hit by it once or twice, I have them all written up in such a way as to make this a one-click transition but it still irritates the starch out of me).