But in late January, the northern half of the province will lose its 35-year-old area code and some Edmontonians are wondering: Why our half?

"I would've liked to see the capital city keep the original area code," says Don Gray, manager of Edmonton Pride Events. "I'm not too sure why we, in Edmonton, have to change our area code and the south gets to keep the traditional 403."

There are two reasons for changing northern Alberta's area code to 780. Alberta's demand for phone numbers, including residential lines, cell phones, modems, fax machines and pagers, will exceed eight million before 2000. The existing 403 code will only support 7.8 million numbers, so a new area code is inevitable.

Calgary will probably need another new area code within 15 or 20 years, so Telus decided to give the new area code to the north now, rather than force southern Albertans to change their code twice.

So on January 25, 1999, northern Alberta will break custom and begin using the new 780 area code while the south keeps 403.

Other parts of Canada have recently split area codes. Vancouver now has a different area code from the rest of British Columbia, Toronto has its own code and Montreal has split in two.

Last year, BC Tel braced for a deluge of service calls that didn't come, says spokesperson Doug Strachan. "We were anticipating a spike in calls to our customer service, but it really was a non-event."

Telus has set up a 24-hour customer service line for clients with questions.

"It's not like we were the ground-breakers in this," says Telus spokesperson Jeff Welke. "It's been done before."

Telus has been informing its business customers of the $40-million-change since spring. All November Telus statements, both business and residential, include an insert outlining affected communities and detailed area code information.

Like hundreds of organizations and businesses in the northern half of the province, Gray and his staff have started to prepare for the change. Since they order new stationery and business cards every few months anyway, they have started to update the area code on each bit of stationery.

"Everyone needs new business cards eventually, it's just when they order them with the new code that matters," says Howard Suter of Pioneer Press, who has been reminding customers of the change since July.

Despite Telus's repeated warnings to its business customers, some local organizations have been caught with stockpiles of pamphlets with the 403 area code.

Edmonton's Downtown Business Association recently printed 75,000 colour brochures touting the downtown Arts District. The brochures were to be used for the next two tourist seasons.

"We printed and designed the brochure to take us through to the year 2000 -- two years from now," says Peter Mercer, the association's executive director.

He says he had forgotten about the change until a media outlet called him a few weeks ago.

"We got caught. And if we're the only ones, I'd be surprised."

Residential customers have nothing to worry about come January, Welke says. "Let your relatives and friends know that your area code is changing, and there should be no problems."

To make the transition easier, calls dialled with the old 403 area code will be connected until mid-May. But incorrectly dial a 780 number after May 18, 1999, and be prepared to hear the following automated message:

"The new area code for the number you are calling is 780. This call cannot be completed. Please hang up and re-dial, using the area code 780."