Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 7, 1994 TAG: 9407070142
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Roanoke Valley, along with the rest of Western Virginia, is getting a new area code next year, Bell Atlantic announced Wednesday.
Starting July 15, 1995, callers to the western half of the state - from Lee County to Winchester and Leesburg in the north - will need to dial area code 540 instead of 703.
Heavily populated localities in Northern Virginia - Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William counties, the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church, and a portion of eastern Loudoun County - will keep the 703 area code.
Bell Atlantic announced in March that a new area code was needed because the possibilities for new phone numbers in the 703 area code quickly are being used up.
There are 792 exchange code possibilities (the first three numbers of a telephone number), and only about 100 remain unused, said Don Reid, Bell Atlantic's area manager.
"This was a necessity," he said. "We were running out of numbers."
Much of the growth in telephone numbers is caused by the growing popularity of fax machines, cellular phones and pagers, Reid said.
Paul Miller, a Bell Atlantic spokesman in Richmond, said Northern Virginia was allowed to keep the 703 area code because that area is more populous than the western half of the state.
The new 540 area code will serve 1.1 million phone lines, while 703 will continue to serve 1.3 million phone lines in Northern Virginia.
"We prefer to affect the smaller number," Miller said.
Though the new area code officially will go into effect next July, both 703 and 540 will work in Western Virginia for a year afterward.
"Of course, we certainly hope customers will start using the new area code immediately" next July, Miller said.
Wednesday's announcement followed a three-month study of growth and calling patterns in the state, Miller said.
One area of the study looked at the possibility of providing a separate area code in the area for cellular telephone and paging companies.
"But we found it would have been far more expensive to do that," the Bell Atlantic spokesman said.
The 540 area code was selected by Bell Communications Research Inc., the administrator of the North American numbering plan for telephone systems.
Ken Branson, a spokesman for the New Jersey-based research consortium, said Western Virginia's new area code will be the fifth in the country that does not have 1 or 0 as a second digit.
Branson said the numbering plan recently ran out of area codes using 1 or 0 as a middle digit, so all new area codes will have a middle number between 2 and 9.
That means new area codes will cost many companies more than just the price of new stationery, Branson said.
Businesses with a PBX or private branching exchange phone system - additional equipment not owned by the phone company - will need to upgrade systems so the equipment will recognize the new area codes, Branson said.
That change, which could cost several thousand dollars, is necessary for any company that wants to call the new area codes, not just the ones getting new phone numbers.
Western Virginia's new area code will mean a lot of work in the next year for Doris Stock, assistant director of Virginia Tech's communication network.
It will be her job to spearhead Tech's efforts to modify its campus-wide phone system that serves about 15,000 users.
That means reprogramming computer billing methods, upgrading support systems, revising phone books and "many, many" more changes, she said.
"Everything we've got has 703 on it," Stock said. "This isn't going to be inexpensive for anyone."
Still, she understands why Bell Atlantic allowed Northern Virginia to keep the current area code.
"It just makes good business sense on their part," she said.
by CNB