ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 23, 1995                   TAG: 9503230088
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

FLEX THOSE DIALING FINGERS

A record 14 telephone area codes are to change this year in North America as the communication industry struggles to cope with phone-number gridlock spawned by an explosion of fax machines, cellular phones and other communication devices.

Callers stratching from California to Bermuda will face a confusing array of three-digit area codes. Some will not have the usual ``0'' or ``1'' as the middle number and a few - like the proposed 562 area code in the 310 dialing area covering western Los Angeles County - will overlay existing codes and thus will not have a distinct geographic identity.

The changeovers will require tens of millions more Americans to dial 11 digits for many of their local calls. And the controversial overlay area codes eventually could saddle residents with different area codes for telephones at the same location, such as a fax machine and a voice line.

For many businesses, some of the area code changes could be wrenching. Because some old phone equipment was designed to recognize only long-distance area codes that have a ``0'' or ``1'' as the middle digit, businesses with aging private branch exchanges, or PBXs, may not be able to reach the new area codes at all unless they make costly modifications to their equipment.

The latest numbering upheaval is the result of massive telephone number depletion. Each three-digit area code can support about 7.8 million seven-digit phone numbers. But cellular phones, pagers and mobile radio phones are gobbling up more than 8,000 new telephone numbers a day.

Though the addition of 640 potential new area codes using middle digits other than 0 or 1 will give the industry some breathing room, demand for new numbers eventually will force the industry to rethink the nearly century-old dialing distinction between local and long-distance calls.

Experts say callers everywhere soon may be required to dial at least 11 digits to reach anyone - whether long-distance or local - or the industry may have to introduce ``portable'' exchanges that are assigned to an individual, much like a Social Security number, and remain with the person no matter where he or she is.

And the numbering turmoil has escalated the already bitter feud between the regional Bell phone companies and upstart communication service companies over number allocation.

New telephone access providers like New York-based Teleport Communications Group and cable TV operators - who are seeking to provide phone service through cable TV wires - say there is an inherent conflict of interest in letting the regional Bells allocate numbers. 


 by CNB