From: sobo@home.merit.edu (Eric P. Sobocinski)
Subject: Re: New area-code (was: Re: USENET backbone...)
Summary: LATAs aren't area codes
Keywords: 313 810 area code lata
Organization: Merit Network and the University of Michigan
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 17:20:08 GMT

In article <Brtzs8.547@ais.org> sea@ais.org (Steve Arlow) writes:
>In article <1992Jul14.221207.3521@cfctech.cfc.com> kevin@cfctech.cfc.com (Kevin Darcy) writes:
>>In article <1992Jul14.143336.28095@vela.acs.oakland.edu> tjhacker@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Thomas J. Hacker) writes:
>>>
>>>I just heard on WJR that Mi Bell is going to split the 313 area code along
>>>8 mile road.  South of 8 mile (AA, Yp, Det, etc) will remain 313.  North, 
>>>some will go to 517, some (Lapeer, Pontiac, probably Roch and points east?) 
>>>will get a new one, which will be 810.  The change will probably happen in 
>>>two years.
>>
>>I, for one, can't wait for this to happen. "Long distance" between Ann Arbor
>>and the Greater Detroit Area is bound to be far cheaper than the exorbitant
>>prices Michigan Bell is charging me now for my intra-LATA calls. Heck, even 
>>my calls to Massachusetts are cheaper than my calls to Southfield, rate-
>>period for rate-period, as was the last call I made to California (!!!)...
>
>You can easily (and legally) charge your intra-LATA calls to your LD carrier
>instead, by prefacing them with the appropriate 10-code.  Eg., if you use
>AT&T, dial your intra-LATA call as 10288-(313)-555-1212.  I looked into this 
>myself, and there's only one catch:  Special discount schedules which apply
>only to LD calls direct-dialed from your home may not apply to calls placed
>this way -- consult your LD company.

What he said about making your intra-LATA phone calls through your LD carrier.
 
Now to clear up some erroneous ideas:  The creation of the new 810 area code
will *not* influence calling rates between Ann Arbor and places north of 
8 Mile Road.  The reason is that both area codes (313 and 810) will still 
be in the same LATA.  LATAs and area codes are completely unrelated, and the
fact that they are closely aligned (but do *not* match) in Michigan is due
only to the whim of the MPSC and other authorities.  

For a nearby example, note that the 517 area code has *two* LATAs, one
oriented around Lansing and Jackson, and the other handling the upper thumb,
Saginaw/Midland/Bay City, and the east half of the northern L.P.  A more
extreme example is Cincinnati, where one LATA encompasses the city and
its suburbs.  Many of those suburbs are in Kentucky, which has a different
area code than south-western Ohio, and significant parts of both area codes
are *not* in that LATA.

In some other parts of the country, LATAs and area codes never have been
aligned.  California and the urban areas of the East Coast both come to mind.

Area codes were created with regard to phone company convenience.  Many
boundaries are political, and many others are based upon 1940s boundaries
between phone companies, internal phone company politics, and phone company
cabling and switching patterns.  LATAs, meanwhile were created upon 
customer calling patterns.  The two concepts don't necessarily have any
relation to each other.

Newsgroups: mi.news