Area code consumer attendance total: (002)
No busy signals here.
A Thursday consumer session to discuss adding a local area code was a sparsely attended affair, with just two consumers weighing in with brief comments. The bulk of the half-hour meeting went to a presentation on the change by the North America Numbering Plan Administration, which monitors and establishes area-code zones.
The numbering administration said at Thursday's session that it's running out of local phone number prefixes for carriers to give to new customers. The only way to make more phone numbers is to add a second area code for Southern Nevada.
The numbering administration has proposed a plan that would overlay all of the Las Vegas Valley with a new code, rather than splitting codes between the city of Las Vegas and its suburbs. That means all locals with an existing 702 area code would keep their full, 10-digit phone number. The new area code would apply only to new numbers that go live after mid-2014.
Callers will have to dial the full 10-digit number to phone locally after the code addition, but they won't pay long-distance charges or other costs to ring next door, said John Manning, director of the North America Numbering Plan Administration.
"Quite emphatically, I can say that we totally avoid any changes in any type of call structures locally and for toll calls," Manning said. "It's way too confusing to introduce an area code, and also to introduce new structures on what's local and what's toll."
That's not to say there aren't costs. Phone carriers will have to re-engineer and reprogram switches to recognize that not all 10-digit incoming calls are from outside the area. There will be educational costs, too, as carriers begin informational campaigns in February for a mid-2014 transition. Businesses that advertise with just their seven-digit number will need to add their area code to their marketing materials.
Nor will locals get a say on what the new area code will be. For starters, forget 777, Manning said. That suggestion came up in 1998, the first time Nevada had to add an area code. Northern Nevada ended up with 775. The lucky digits aren't available because the numbering administration sets aside codes with the same last two digits as "unique numbers for unique purposes." Think 888, or 877 - toll numbers.
Manning said Southern Nevada will get a look at its new area code by early 2013. Callers would have a nine-month grace period, from August 2013 to mid-2014, when they could get away with dialing just seven digits for local calls.
To see the area code filings, visit the Public Utilities Commission's website at www.puc.nv.gov. Click on "Docket Info" and choose "Telecommunications Dockets." The case is Docket No. 12-06016.
The commission will have a preconference hearing on the area code in late October, though consumers will not be allowed to speak at the session. Commission spokesman Peter Kostes said the commission should make a decision on the new code by year's end.
Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at
jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.
Follow @J_Robison1 on Twitter.
