New Area Code Coming to Triangle (Durham: apartment, house, college)

[GucciLittlePiggie]

it's really weird to me because i've never had a landline since i stopped living with my parents 11 years ago. dialing 7 digits is something i remember from the 90s in upstate NY. i didn't realize people still did that, or even had landlines. even our mid to late 80s grandparents have cell phones.

[adlnc07]

I have the uncanny ability to choose houses that are in cell phone dead zones (i.e. no bars) - I think I'll have a landline for a very long time!

(But I currently have TWC phone service, which isn't a land line in the traditional sense of the word).

[Francois]

Originally Posted by GucciLittlePiggie

it's really weird to me because i've never had a landline since i stopped living with my parents 11 years ago. dialing 7 digits is something i remember from the 90s in upstate NY. i didn't realize people still did that, or even had landlines. even our mid to late 80s grandparents have cell phones.

Don't you have a landline at work?

I will always have a landline because I worry about losing my cell phone (which I mostly use as a "car phone" [handsfree] and leave it there, anyway) What does someone do who only has a cell phone and then loses it?

[GucciLittlePiggie]

you disconnect service from it and lock it out, then get another one. you can get insurance or hopefully upgrade. i've never lost a phone, though... and yeah at work there's a landline but you still have to dial 9 then 1 and the area code. never worked anywhere i didn't have to. i actually use my cell at work cuz it's just easier... landlines wouldn't exist anymore if cable companies didn't keep trying to bundle them with internet and tv

[architect77]

Originally Posted by MikeJaquish

I remember when 7 digit dialing was new and innovative...

In Louisburg during the 80's the whole town only had 1 prefix (496), and you only had to dial the 6 and the last 4 digits (6-XXXX). Then they announced that you had to dial all 7 digits, and everyone quickly found out that dialing 66- XXXX would work. That lasted for a couple of years until fax machines and modems warranted many more prefixes.

[urbancharlotte]

Here's a better map that shows the actual counties. Being that more than half of the Triangle's population is in Wake (and more than half of the growth is in Wake too), it would seem logical to just do an overlay in Wake.



File:Northcarolinaareacodes.gif - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Sherifftruman]

Doing an overlay just in Wake might have worked 10 years ago, but now that they're almost out of numbers in the entire 919 area, they have to let Durham have some numbers too.

[CHTransplant]

Originally Posted by urbancharlotte

Being that more than half of the Triangle's population is in Wake (and more than half of the growth is in Wake too), it would seem logical to just do an overlay in Wake.

So effectively creating a new area code for one-fourth the Triangle's population? Doesn't make much sense to me.

[Francois]

Originally Posted by urbancharlotte

Here's a better map that shows the actual counties. Being that more than half of the Triangle's population is in Wake (and more than half of the growth is in Wake too), it would seem logical to just do an overlay in Wake.

Actually, the logic in that would be for Wake to keep 919 and put the rest in a new code. An overlay applies to an entire existing area code, not just part of it.

[citiboi27620]

Why are people so down on land line phones? I've found that land lines are cheap and despite the convenience of cell phones and other electronic communication mean, they're often still the most realiable and stable way to get in contact with someone. Cell phones do so much more than act as a phone. Many people don't check voice mails or even return calls. And that's even if your signal is great (rural areas).