Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 25, 1995 TAG: 9507250082
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
``They're getting them right now,'' Paul Miller, Bell Atlantic-Virginia Co. spokesman, said Monday in a resigned tone. ``The postcards have stickers to remind them they're in the new area code.''
Also Monday, the State Corporation Commission opened up short-distance telephone traffic - calls normally handled by Bell Atlantic-Virginia and other local carriers - to competition from long-distance companies such as AT&T. But so far, Bell Atlantic can not yet compete with AT&T, MCI, Sprint and other long-distance carriers on their turf.
The postcards explaining the new 540 area code starting this month were supposed to have gone to customers in the 540 area code - from the western part of the state stretching over to Fredericksburg and King George County. Instead, they went to business and residential customers in Northern Virginia.
Miller said printing and mailing the postcards cost the company $100,300, which will come out of shareholders' profits rather than from ratepayers.
The company suspects a programming error, he said, but was focusing immediately on getting the word out about the error.
The cards did not go to customers in the new area code who are served by other local phone companies such as GTE, Miller said.
The 703 area code was divided July 15 because telephone numbers in Virginia are being depleted rapidly as more and more people get pagers, fax machines, cellular telephones and computers with modems. For the next six months, both area codes will work. But at 2 a.m. Jan. 27, the 703 area code that once was used for all of Virginia will be exclusive to four counties and three cities outside Washington.
The counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William and eastern Loudoun - and the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church and Fairfax - will remain in 703. The new 540 area code stretches from Lee County in southwestern Virginia through Roanoke and on to Winchester and east to Fredericksburg.
``The cards were intended to be a reminder to those people who may not have seen the news stories'' on the change, Miller said.
Monday's SCC decision on competition has been under consideration since 1985.
The change means that the long-distance calls typically on the local portion of telephone bills no longer will be limited to customers' local telephone companies. Virginia's local companies include Bell Atlantic, GTE, Centel and the about 20 other companies throughout the state, said Andrea Leeman, an SCC spokeswoman.
Examples of such calls are those between Richmond and Petersburg, Fredericksburg and Culpeper, Roanoke and Wytheville, and Williamsburg and Virginia Beach, Miller said.
After Oct. 1, customers may simply dial the access code of whichever long-distance company - such as AT&T, Sprint or MCI - they want. AT&T and its competitors have been able to handle only long-distance calls between what are known as Local Access and Transport Areas or LATAs.
by CNB