Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:06:35 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@proponent.com>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Phone Customers Face Dialing Changes
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 858, Message 10 of 13

 From {The Boston Globe} 11/13/92.

Taking steps to replenish the depleted supply of area codes, New
England Telephone Co. said yesterday it would begin phasing in several
dialing changes in February.

The changes will eventually permit phone companies to use area codes
that don't have "0" or "1" as their middle numeral, freeing up 640 new
possibilities nationwide.  The additional area codes are needed to
create new telephone lines, which are in scare [sic] supply bacause
[sic] of the rising use of computers, facsimile machines, pagers and
cellular phones.

But for that central reprogramming to work, customers will have to
learn new dialing habits, New England Telephone said.

Today, callers dial some calls in their area codes with seven digits,
while other calls require "1" plus the seven digits.

But by 1994 area residents won't have to add a "1" before before [sic]
making a call in their own area code.  Customers will still have to
add that digit when making calls to other area codes.

That change will take effect Feb. 2, 1993, in western Massachusetts
exchanges of Wesfield, Russell and Monson.  Next year the new
procedure will spread throughout the 413, 603, 802, and 401 area
codes.  In 1994 residents in 617, 508, and 207 will hear the calling.
New England Telephone provides phone service in every New England
state except Connecticut.

The switch won't change local calling areas or rates.  "A toll call is
still a toll call," Cronin said.

Another change over the next couple of years will include a shift in
the dialing for operator-assisted and calling card calls.  Under the
new plan, customers will have to dial "0" plus the area code and the
number even if they are dialing within the same area code.

New England Telephone said that its effort to establish a uniform
dialing pattern for all its customers coincides with similar programs
elsewhere in the nation.

By 1995, besides the new area codes, the changes will free up an
additional 152 local exchanged codes within existing area codes.  It
will increase the supply of available phone numbers nationwide from 1
billion to 6.3 billion.

                            End of article.

One problem with this change is that callers won't automatically know
that a call is a toll call at the time that they place it.  For
example, any non-local call which I dial within area code 508 yields a
recording which states:

	"Sorry we cannot complete your call as dialed.
	To call beyond the local area you must dial 1 first.
	Do not dial 1 when dialing a local call.
	This is a recording."

I always know that I will incur toll charges when dialing an inital 1
for calls within my area code.

Unfortunately, I can't easily distinguish between calls dialed to area
code 617 which are included in my calling plan at no additional charge
and those that incur toll charges since I always have to dial 1 617 to
reach them.

Cellular One/Boston doesn't require the dialing of an inital "1" for
calls within the same area code.  They route the call to their closest
point of interconnect and it ends up usually being a local call.
Often it is cheaper for me to use my cellular phone than to use my
land line.


Monty Solomon / PO Box 2486 / Framingham, MA  01701-0405  
monty%roscom@think.com