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Separate Area Codes Urged For Cell Phones
The answer: The federal government wouldn't allow it.
But now, in an effort to gain control of what it calls ``the ongoing number crisis we face,'' the California Public Utilities Commission is asking the Federal Communications Commission to waive its ban on establishing different area codes for different technologies or services.
While the request doesn't guarantee the PUC will adopt the wireless-only area code idea, it would give it a chance to at least consider the option, officials said.
It's one of several potential solutions being considered to stem the tide of new area codes that have coursed into California in recent years.
Area codes were first used here in 1947 -- the initial three were 415, 916 and 213. The number grew to 13 by 1997, when the demand for new phone numbers exploded.
That year the number of area codes jumped to 18. Later this year, it will hit 26. Officials predict the state will need another 15 by the end of 2002.
As more and more people snap up wireless phones, pagers, fax machines and second phone lines, the supply of numbers dwindles. Competition has also meant that more companies are requesting numbers to serve customers, but those numbers are only parceled out in blocks of 10,000 -- even if the carrier has just a few customers.
So far, the methods of introducing new area codes have pleased almost no one. Splits, which divide an area into two geographic portions and assign one part a new code, have been used for the most part. Recently, the commission has also approved a handful of ``overlays,'' including ones in 408, 650, 510 and 415, which assign a new area code to most new numbers and require 11-digit dialing on every call.
``Our staff daily field hundreds of communications via e-mail, telephone and letters from members of the public complaining bitterly about the number and pace of area code changes taking place in California,'' state officials said in the petition to the FCC. ``Without additional authority from the FCC, we cannot develop a broad slate of solutions to address the problem.''
An area code just for wireless phones or pagers, could ``reduce the rate of demand that wireless carriers have on the existing area code, and you might be able to slow down the rate at which you add new area codes,'' said Natalie Billingsley of the commission's Office of Ratepayer Advocates.
The PUC request did not specify how such a plan would work. It would probably apply to new numbers only.
Wireless carriers have opposed the idea of a wireless-only area code, saying it could confuse customers and put companies at a disadvantage. For example, a business person with a few mobile phones could buy some more after the new code was introduced, and the new phones could be in a different area code, said Tim Ayers of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.
``We don't seen any indication it's going to benefit either our customers or the general public,'' said Josh King, general counsel at Cellular One, noting that a wireless-only code would be akin to segregating companies into a ``substandard caste.''
Officials at GTE Wireless and Pacific Bell Wireless, two other Bay Area carriers, also said they were against the idea.
But the concept is one that makes sense to Los Gatos resident Bob Lipp, particularly because of the mobile nature of wireless phones.
``The way it's going more and more with cell phones, you don't even have to associate it with an area anymore,'' said Lipp, whose family has two cellular phones. ``Cell phones have nothing to do with geography.''
Others apparently have the same idea. At public meetings throughout the state, one or more speakers invariably ask why state officials have not created an area code just for faxes or wireless providers.
Setting up a separate area code for fax machines is impossible since the telephone network can't tell the difference between a voice call, which carries conversations and a data call, which carries information, Billingsley said.
If FCC history is any indicator, the state's request may not be granted. The commission has rejected previous requests for waivers to the policy. One wireless-only area code, 917, exists in New York City, but that existed before the ban, an FCC official said.
The PUC's Billingsley estimated it could be six to 12 months before state regulators get an answer.
A national industry task force report has suggested other solutions, such as mandatory 10-digit dialing everywhere. Another way to reduce the need for new area codes is revise the way blocks of phone numbers are handed out to telecommunications companies.