Ken,
     I have been told there is an area (in Maryland I think) that when you get a
phone number you *PICK* what area code you want.... so a lot of businesses have
two phone lines...one in each area code!!!

Art Bahrs

>>> Ken Paul <[log in to unmask]> 06/09/97 04:11pm >>>
On Sun, 8 Jun 1997 18:28:16 -0400, Wirt Atmar <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Is this overlay permanent -- or is it merely a transition mechanism?
>Generally, it's been the rural areas of the US that have had to suffer the
>discomfort of getting their area codes changed. Only recently has this same
>process been coming to a major city near you.

>For a period of about six or nine months, both the old and new area codes are
>in effect -- and then, on some preset date, they disallow the original area
>code usage in the newly cleaved area code's region.

>The pattern you describe is the one that everyone is seeing. The a part of
>the old Philadelphia area code (215) was partitioned into a second
>NANP-compatible area code (610) a few years ago -- and is now being
>partitioned again into new area codes yet again, where any number may be
>present in the second digit.

To add my Colorado/Denver experience to this thread here is what has
happened so far:

Colorado used to be one area code (303) for the whole state.
About 1/3 of the state was removed from 303 and became 719 (Colorado
Springs/Pueblo)
The remainder of the state minus the Denver Metro area was removed from 303
and given 970.  This caused several problems for businesses because of the
fact that the second digit was not 1 or 0 as Wirt mentioned and was delayed
for awhile.
Early this year they announced that the Denver metro area was running out
of numbers and they could do one of two things:

1. Cut the Denver Metro area in half (North/South or East/West or maybe
within other boundaries) and create another area code.

2. Overlay the whole 303 area code with an additional area code which would
be used for all new numbers.

They have had a few public meetings on the issue to see if there is one
clear winner that people are pushing for but so far it seems like positions
are split close to 50/50.  Anyone have any comments pro/con about either
method?

The overlay method is what Joe and Nick were talking about in that they may
have to dial 10 digits to talk to a neighbor across the street in an
extreme case.  If option number two is chosen and I get an additional line
for my house I could then have two area codes for my two house phone numbers.

Food for thought,


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