Phone Overlay Draws Big Crowd, Many Gripes

Carolanne Sudderth
Mirror Staff Writer

To dial, or not to dial? Or more specifically, how many numbers to dial? And if the answer is 11, why?
   Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind (and in the fingertips) to bear the slings and arrows of outrageous eleven-digit dialing or to take arms against a sea of area codes, and by opposing Ö. end them?
   Whether or not the mandatory 1-310 prefix in the 310 area can be ended, speakers made it clear that life in Santa Monica would be easier without them last Thursday at a town meeting called by Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl to address the subject.
   Held in the east wing of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, seats were at a premium, and over 75 people faced the microphone and members of the Public Utilities Commission with comments ranging from unhappiness to outrage.
   On April 15, the overlay system was put into play, making it mandatory to attach “one + the area code “ to every number dialed, (a total of 11 digits) whether the party is on the other side of the country or the other side of the street. This would permit a new area code, 424, to be “laid over” the current 310 area code, according to the phone companies. The new code was to be assigned to new telephone customers beginning July 15.
   In addition to the Public Utilities Commissioners, Kuehl was joined on the dais by Santa Monica Mayor Pam O’Connor who opened the discussion, without mincing a word.
    “Santa Monica doesn’t want this,” she told the PUC. Problems she cited as stemming from the overlay included diminished security in residential buildings with systems not designed to handle 11 digits, an additional burden on seniors forced to learn new tricks or with failing memories, and the added costs to businesses that -have to re-program and deal with mis-dials.“Number-hoarding has got to stop,” she said.PUC Attorney Helen Mickiewicz explained that number-hoarding refers to an FCC practice left over from the days of Ma Bell-monopolies, when telephone numbers were granted to carriers a prefix at a time.
   Each prefix contains 10,000 seven-digit numbers (e.g., 392-0000 to 392-9999), but not all of Ma Bell’s scions have 10,000. If the carrier has only two customers, he nevertheless receives a whole prefix, or 10,000 numbers even though he may have no use for 9,998 of them.
   “There is no easy solution here. There's more activity here than in any other state, and we point this out [to the FCC] at every opportunity.” Miciewicz said.
   Kuehl’s comments about “flak jackets under the seats” seemed to indicate that she knew the tone the meeting would take, as did a follow-up quip that the fruits and vegetables had been removed from the snack tables in back of the room. She was proved correct almost immediately when some of the attendees began adding editorial accompaniment to comments from the PUC members but she was able to maintain order, reminding the crowd that they were not at a football game. “No hissing.” Commissioner Jack Leutza said the problem is increasing demand. California is running out of phone numbers, he said.
   As telecommunications devices become increasingly popular, the demand for telephone numbers has grown. “How many people have more than one phone number,” he asked. Many people raised their hands. A number of speakers suggested that area codes be assigned according to technology (e.g., one area code for faxes, one area code for cellular telephones).
   Leutza said the Federal Communications Commission had expressly prohibited the PUC from doing this, limiting their options to two: Assigning new area codes chronologically (the overlay) or geographically. “And the geographical areas are becoming smaller and smaller.
   “We know it was getting extremely difficult to split along any recognizable boundaries.” He said that either way, people can expect to be dialing 11 digits, “because with each split, the areas get increasingly smaller, people very often end up dialing 11-digits anyway.
   “Either choice makes everybody unhappy.”
   Santa Monica Councilmember Paul Rosenstein tossed the blame at the Public Communications Act which broke the phone company into smaller pieces. “Industry has its input, but not the people.”
   He said that after three months of struggling with the 11-digit overlay, he questioned if the government was representing industry or the people. After urging state representatives speak out against overlay, he suggested that Sacramento phones be re-programmed to give legislators a taste of 11-digit dialing.
   “I think, after a day or two of this, maybe they’ll understand,” he said.
   Commissioner Carl Woods agreed that de-regulation of the telephone had fallen short of expectations.
   “There’s a prevailing orthodoxy that if we perfect competition and throw open the markets, that will take care of the problem. The current issue illustrates the contrary, [because] current legislation precludes the government from participating [in business] unless industry wants them to. The industry is prepared to offer all sorts of choices except the choice I’m hearing that most people want.” Steve Teitelman received a round of applause and a few suggestions that he run for office after he spoke. He joked that when his secretary had told him that we running out of numbers, he had six additional lines installed. Just in case.
   He praised Our Times columnist Bob Scheer for bringing the issue to light in the face of the slow, or no, flow of information from government agencies.
   Illustrating his point he asked, “How many of you didn’t know about these [PUC] hearings until they were over and done?”
   Audience reaction indicated that most people had been unaware. He told the PUC that the public was willing to work with them to solve this problem.
   “[Under the current system], he said, “we will run out of area codes in all of North America in 10 years. It will cost $50-100 billion to fix.“
   We want to know exactly what powers you need the FCC to give you,” he told the PUC commissioners. “We can bring pressure to bear to get this problem fixed and we can do it overnight.”
   Business representatives said they didn’t mind the overlay that much but feared switching from it to splitting the city into two area codes. They cited the expense of re-doing anything with the old phone number on it, from stationery to advertising copy, and the potential loss of business and general confusion a change in telephone number can render. Some of them mentioned that, at this time, there is no opportunity, there is no allowance for the additional expense.
   Councilmember Richard Bloom listened. Later, quoting Newton’s Law that “for every action, there’s a reaction,” he said that de-regulation may have solved some problems, but it created others. He suggested tackling number pooling as that was something everyone seemed to agree on and take the problem to Congress. “The first thing we need to do is go to Washington and let them know that we need action, and we need it right away.
   “It’s not the nature of bureaucratic system we live in [to involve the public] but that doesn’t absolve the bureaucracy from responsibility. I think we have to realize that it’s useful to have a reasonable amount of regulation when it comes to utilities.”