New Area Code 657 (Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley: architect, offer, service)

[BreaOC]

My partner and roommate have two cell phones each, and in the last 2 years I've changed numbers at least 5 times. The numbers go faster than you would think

[bob-jenkins]

I am just saying, they have done years of studies, and have found that it will take 1.7 million to fill up an area code. This probably takes into account the number hogs, like yourself (which they can reuse those unused numbers after 6 months), as well as other factors. They are not stupid, they know that there are oddballs who do oddball things that will skew the numbers, and they take that into account.

[BreaOC]

I hardly see how I am a number hog or oddball for having changed my number a few times. My question to you is where is your information from? You are awfully defensive of information with no listed citations. Plus you never answered my earlier question regarding northern Orange County only having roughly 1.3 mil people, pretty far short of the 1.7. While the population of an area is, I'm sure, one of the terms they use in deciding if a new area code is proper, I'm sure there are numerous other factors they take into account.

[cobmw]

Move to Colorado. My area code is the same as Grand Junction. That's a six hour drive from here.

[BreaOC]

Originally Posted by cobmw

Move to Colorado. My area code is the same as Grand Junction. That's a six hour drive from here.

LOL when I was in ND we only had one area code for the entire state. It was foreign to me to call the same area code and get charged long distance, thank god for cell phones!!!

[BreaOC]

OK, so I have been searching and the only answer I get from website after website is that a new area code is presented once the 7,920,000 (link) allocatted to each area code is exhausted:

New area codes are assigned across the country due to diminishing supplies of available telephone number prefixes. This happens due to dramatic growth and the many choices in service providers, significant increases in products and services such as fax machines, pagers, wireless telephones, second telephone lines, voice mail and other competitive offerings. Link

Now, the thing is that not nessacarily all of those numbers are even active, like a previous poster mention many of them are being held for the companies they were allocated to. It's a case of inefficient allocation of the available numbers. Following is the best example I could find of how this process works:

When local telephone service opens to competition in a city, each new competing carrier must have numbers available in each rate center it wishes to serve. Under the current system, that means it must be assigned an entire block of 10,000 numbers for each rate center in the territory it serves. Let's say that a particular metropolitan area has 30 rate centers, including different sections of the city and various suburbs. Now let's say that there are 15 companies that want to compete against the dominant carrier for local service. Each of those 15 companies requires a prefix in each of those 30 rate areas, for a total of 450 new prefixes. That's a total of 4.5 million out of the fewer than 8 million numbers possible per area code, EVEN IF the new carriers have only signed up a few thousand customers! (The example is not at all unrealistic, by the way.) Link

It's not realistic in that some communities have the need for far more than the 7,920,000 available, and some have far less need for them.

[bm22]

In my opinion, the overlay will be a major pain when compared to splitting into two area codes. You will always have to dial 10 digits, always have to program 10 digits, not be able to determine someone's location by area code. You will even end up having two different area codes in the same business or residence when new lines are added.

If the 714 area code was split in two, the half with the new area code would have the initial inconvenience of having to change all their paperwork, telecom and computer equipment. Businesses claim this cost is significant although I feel they really overinflate the cost of updating paperwork. It is not like the good old days when you had a two year supply of very expensive glossy brochures sitting in the stockroom. Most of us have been through this before (Hello 949!) and know it is an inconvenience but something that is pretty straight forward.

The interesting thing about the overlay is that different business interests didn't want to give up the 714 area code; the commision couldn't create a split that worked or didn't want to deal with it and basically said okay you all can keep your 714 but be careful what you wish for 'cause you're getting an area code overlay!

Wasn't the feedback from the L.A. area code overlay overwhelmingly negative? I would like to hear from anyone who had first hand experience with it.

I also have wondered why new area codes aren't introduced as exclusive to new cell phone accounts as this seems to be where the most new numbers are needed. Cell phones aren't associated with a fixed geographical location so the tie to one area code is not as tight.

One more question: Do the people in the 949 still look down on us 714 lowlifes? Lord help the people with the new area code for they will end up at the bottom of the food chain!

[bob-jenkins]

Originally Posted by bm22

In my opinion, the overlay will be a major pain when compared to splitting into two area codes. You will always have to dial 10 digits, always have to program 10 digits, not be able to determine someone's location by area code. You will even end up having two different area codes in the same business or residence when new lines are added.

If the 714 area code was split in two, the half with the new area code would have the initial inconvenience of having to change all their paperwork, telecom and computer equipment. Businesses claim this cost is significant although I feel they really overinflate the cost of updating paperwork. It is not like the good old days when you had a two year supply of very expensive glossy brochures sitting in the stockroom. Most of us have been through this before (Hello 949!) and know it is an inconvenience but something that is pretty straight forward.

The interesting thing about the overlay is that different business interests didn't want to give up the 714 area code; the commision couldn't create a split that worked or didn't want to deal with it and basically said okay you all can keep your 714 but be careful what you wish for 'cause you're getting an area code overlay!

Wasn't the feedback from the L.A. area code overlay overwhelmingly negative? I would like to hear from anyone who had first hand experience with it.

I also have wondered why new area codes aren't introduced as exclusive to new cell phone accounts as this seems to be where the most new numbers are needed. Cell phones aren't associated with a fixed geographical location so the tie to one area code is not as tight.

One more question: Do the people in the 949 still look down on us 714 lowlifes? Lord help the people with the new area code for they will end up at the bottom of the food chain!

You are absolutely right. 949 was a pain at first, but now its old news, and nobody is inconvinenced anymore. Could you imagine right now having to dial 714 for all our local calls had 949 been an overlay? That would have sucked.

[EscapeCalifornia]

310 in LA has an overlay. Denver's 303 has an overlay. People seem to manage just fine. If you don't want to deal with 10 digit dialing, move to some state with one area code and no growth potential.

[denverian]

I remember being a 714 when I went to college in Redlands! I don't know why I feel attatched to 714 - I guess I just had it for so long.

I'm not a big fan of the overlay (we have one in Denver) and it's a pain to dial 10 digits every time. There are so many in SoCal now that I don't even recognize many of them.