Telephone companies work through area-code glitches in Riverside, Calif., area

[larry]

July 22, 2004 6:06pm
Knight-Ridder / Tribune Business News


Jul. 22--In retrospect, William Saito wonders if it was wise to issue a "big press release" about his software firm on the Monday after Riverside County got a new area code.

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea on rollover day," said Saito, who runs I/O Software in Riverside. "We noticed our call volume was down, which we blamed on a Monday. But then when I called into the office at lunch, I couldn't get through."

Two days earlier, on July 17, the area code in most of western Riverside County switched from 909 to 951. Callers should be able to use either area code during a three-month "permissive" dialing period. On Oct. 30, the new code will become mandatory.

While phone companies have so far reported no systematic hassles or headaches related to the switch, there have been isolated problems.

"We have had complaints from various carriers, both wireless and wire line," said Terrie Prosper, press secretary for the California Public Utilities Commission, which approved the area code change last November.

"We encourage people to contact their carrier, and if that isn't helpful, they should call us. We have been able to intercede in quite a few cases." The number to call is 1-800-649-7570, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Verizon Wireless is one of the companies the PUC has heard about.

"There were two categories of hurdles that we had to overcome," said Ken Muché, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless, in a phone interview.

The problems involved glitches on calls between cell phones and landlines and issues with the technology driving "local number portability," the ability consumers have had since last fall to switch wireless carrier without changing their cell number.

"Through the weekend, we were knocking down the issues one by one. If there was any inconvenience or frustration, we apologize," Muché said. "Hopefully, the problems have been worked out, or will be before we do the next area code switch."

Rachel Garfield, of Murrieta, said she spent several hours on the phone with representatives of Sprint PCS trying to sort out a problem with her cell phone.

"At first, she told me they didn't have any service in the 951 area code, so I asked to speak to a supervisor," she said. "They told me they were actually having technical difficulties with the software, and Sprint was unable to implement the new area code.

"To top it off, while I was on the land phone, I received a text message on my cell phone telling me my area code had changed, and to avoid an interruption in service, I should take it to a Sprint store to have the new software downloaded," she said.

Garfield said Sprint fixed the problem after she called the PUC to complain.

A Sprint spokeswoman couldn't be reached for comment.

Representatives of the Inland area's two major local service providers, SBC Communications and Verizon Communications (which is a separate company from Verizon Wireless) said there were no problems with the area code switch.

As for I/O Software, apparently, some people who tried to reach the company using the new 951 area code couldn't get through, Saito said.

Other callers, located within the 951, had to hang up and dial 1+909 and the number, even though they should have been able to use only seven digits.

The problem was finally fixed, Saito added, after he called his phone company, Time Warner Telecom, and "kind of raised hell."

time warner spokeswoman Lisa Nasseth said the firm received "no customer complaints or reports of any trouble at all with the area code change."

[AnthroMatt]

I hate area code changes. Back in college I couldn't use my MCI (figures) prepaid phone cards for over a month to call my girlfriend in Irvine when they switched from 714 to a new area code. CS for MCI kept telling me there was no 949 area code.

[Shelveen]

i also hate this number change thing...now i gotta get new business cards. and new forms thats gonna cost me over 2 grand!

[ZaphodB]

Oh, you poor babies. At least they actually went through with it, unlike the 310 area code. "We're gonna overlay it, so you all have to dial 1+310 for everything!" "Nope, not gonna do that, just kidding." "We're gonna split south of Culver City!" "Nope, just kidding, that order is in abeyance."

I get notifications of area code and dialling changes at least four times a year.

What are "Tha 909 Shine" (a dance group based out of UCR) going to do now, hold their practises in San Berdoo?

[SQFreak]

Imagine how we feel in the Triad. In the past 11 years, we've had 3 area codes. 919 went to 910 in late 1993 and that went to 336 in late 1997. (Interestingly, permissive dialing of 336 for landline numbers was 6 months long and 2 years long for wireless numbers!) Now relief planning is in the cards for 336.

Before 910 was formed, North Carolina had two area codes. 11 years later, we have 7 (including the barely-used 704 overlay code of 980). Only one of those was an overlay - the rest were geographic splits. It's been horribly expensive. Luckily, we've been stable since 1997, but I think an overlay will be here within the next 5 years.

My parents' cell phones (with Centel Cellular/Sprint Cellular/360 Communications/Alltel through both area code splits) needed to be brought in to be reprogrammed each time. And with that company, that's a pain - it involved waiting in line for 45 minutes. I seem to remember that at one point the local store had implemented a "take a number" system for techs. I've had no reason to go in there for years (literally; my mother had an old Nokia 5100 series CDMA phone until she went to VZW), but my friends tell me the store is still awful.

I do remember getting the postcard with information about 336 from BellSouth. Everyone was thinking it and plenty of people said it - "Oh no, not again!" Area code splits are very hard on the telcos, trying to get the switches sorted out. Wireless telcos could even have switches that serve numbers that are now in two different geographical, non 10-digit-dialing, non-overlaid codes!

At the same time, states like Vermont have a single area code that was implemented back in 1947 and no relief planning is in progress.

[AnthroMatt]

Oh, you poor babies. At least they actually went through with it, unlike the 310 area code. "We're gonna overlay it, so you all have to dial 1+310 for everything!" "Nope, not gonna do that, just kidding." "We're gonna split south of Culver City!" "Nope, just kidding, that order is in abeyance."

I get notifications of area code and dialling changes at least four times a year.

What are "Tha 909 Shine" (a dance group based out of UCR) going to do now, hold their practises in San Berdoo?

I know about all that too with the 619/760/858 split. First it was going to basically be only the City of San Diego that stayed 619. Then some business people got mad in the suburbs and fought it. As a result the 858 didn't even form until months later than planned because the CPUC and PacBell were busy deciding what they were going to do. The stupid thing is that there will be the need for another new area code anyway at some point so people are just delaying the inevitable.

[Jodi]

The sad part is that there are people who are residing in (909) areas but their cells were switched over to (951). Many of my friends are finding this out, and it's driving them crazy! They signed up for their service in a remaining (909) area, but their cell centers happened to be located in Riverside, accounting for the change...

They called VZW to switch back to the (909) area code...they were told they would have to change their number altogether, which will affect their businesses....

I'm happy to say my (909) area code stayed the same....

[Shelveen]

i am a user just like ur friend. my phone number is 909 but my cell is 951. it sucks. but my home phone will change to 951 shortly since i live in riverside county.

[Computerteacher]

I do not know what all the crying is about! I once lived in Florida and was a supervisior for BellSouth (21 years retired) and lived and worked through many many area code changes.

Why geographical splits are just beyond me! Overlay is the best way to go. So your poor fingers must dail an additonal 4 digits. Since coming to California I have never seens such breaks and insane splits.

With overlay numbers stay the same and that is that. It is pure Bull when they PUC and others say it is hard on the equipment. It is just a simple software change and no big deal. Look at Altanta they have 4 overlay codes and not complaining.

The day is not far off when we will run out of code and codes will become 4 digits as that idea was scrapped in the late 80's.

California is progressive in many things and so much more agressive but not when it comes to this stuff!!

[AnthroMatt]

I agree for the most part. Just dial the extra numbers. People that fight it now are just delaying the inevitable. I do understand why people don't want their area codes to change, especially businesses. Overlay solves this problem but my guess is that in some locales people and businesses have fought so long to resist the code changes or that number supply was already so dangerously low that a code split provided the quickest remedy to free up a large amount of numbers.