Joe writes:
> Allocating an entire area code, for one exchange, isn't reasonable.

I understand that part of the problem today is that each time a
telephone service provider (pagers, cell phones, local service, etc.)
needs numbers in an area code, that the global dispenser of telephone
numbers (whoever that is) can't allocate less than a whole exchange
at a time, so with the huge growth in the number of service providers
these days there are many places where a full 10,000 numbers are
allocated where a much smaller number are actually required.

So it's a "memory fragmentation" problem more than just exhausting the
total available numbers in an area code, and is the real reason people
point to cell phones and pagers as being responsible for so many new
area codes.

And as the number of area codes increases, the number of different area
codes in which these service providers all want to provide "local"
service numbers increases, making the problem even worse.

G.