918 Split unfair to Tulsa?

[Hawkins]

Got this in my inbox today from EasyTel. Sounds like things are about to get pretty messed up for Tulsa.

In order to continue to use 7 digit dialing you must TAKE ACTION RIGHT AWAY!



To express your opinion, go to this link  and "CAST YOUR VOTE" (Express your desire for SPLIT with AREA "B" retaining the 918 area code)



http://www.occeweb.com/AreaCodeSurvey/ResponsePage.aspx



Like our customers, EasyTEL has always enjoyed doing business in Tulsa.  Convenience has a big impact on how we all do business.  Part of that convenience is being able to pick up the phone and dial 7 digits to reach any local residence or business quickly.  If you have not heard, due to a shortage of phone numbers, this could be taken away from us in the future.  There is a big push to force Tulsans to dial 10 digits for local calls and for people or businesses that want new phone numbers in Tulsa to be forced to use a different area code than 918.



If this occurs, Tulsa will be singled out and unlike the Oklahoma City area, will be forced to dial 10 digits for local calls.  Tulsa would experience confusion by having two separate area codes in the local area.  Tulsa would become less efficient than Oklahoma City where they have been allowed to keep 7 digit dialing and they have been allowed to keep their original area code for the metro area.



We hope you will join us in making your voice heard at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.  They want to know what we all think since they will be deciding our fate.  The link below will educate you on the two choices that the OCC is facing for Tulsa.



1 – Area Code Split

2 – Area Code Overlay



Please read about the differences at this link on the OCC web site: http://www.occeweb.com/AreaCodeSurvey/



We hope that after you read about the two methods proposed to solve the number shortage problem that you will agree with us that Tulsa businesses would be better served by an Area Code SPLIT vs. the Area Code Overlay.  The split would allow the local calling area to maintain the convenience of 7 digit dialing and would also allow us to maintain a single area code.  Imagine opening up second location in the same city but being forced to use a different area code than 918 for your new location.



To express your opinion, you can go to this link and cast your vote: http://www.occeweb.com/AreaCodeSurvey/ResponsePage.aspx



If the Area Code Overlay is chosen, here are some things we will all be dealing with.



1.    Every local phone call will require 10 digit dialing (Oklahoma City still dials 7 digits for local calls.  Why discriminate against Tulsa?)

2.    To call your next door neighbor or local restaurant, you could be dialing a completely different area code other than 918.

3.    An area code overlay may create inadvertent long distance calls being dialed when people think they are making a 10 digit local call.

4.    Phone Systems in the 918 area code will have to be reprogrammed.  This could be very costly since most phone systems are proprietary systems.

5.    Each company would be responsible to pay their phone vendors to make this change.  This unexpected expense could be a real hardship in a down economy.

6.    You could end up with two local businesses with the exact same last 7 digits which could result in utter confusion since both are a free local call.



If other people are allowed to make this decision for you, your business could be affected.  We appreciate your business and hope that you are successful in the future.  As a Tulsa based business ourselves, we want the very best for our city.  Let's work together to make 918 Tulsa's area code and keep 7 digit dialing like it is today!

[Nik]

Yeah, I'm on the side of let's keep Tulsa metro area 918 and create a new area code for surrounding areas. We've done it once, why not do it again?

[Steve]

Yeah, I'm on the side of let's keep Tulsa metro area 918 and create a new area code for surrounding areas. We've done it once, why not do it again?

I second that.  Keep Tulsa city llimits 918, all others get the new code.

[Hoss]

I second that.  Keep Tulsa city llimits 918, all others get the new code.

I think people are making this a mountain out of a molehill.  Alot of these splits don't get public voices and they still get the metro split vs overlay.  It's not very common that an overlay is given.

[swake]

I prefer overlay.

Most large cities have 10 digit dialing already and no one has to change their phone number.

[sgrizzle]

The NIMBY in me prefers split.

[joiei]

Overlay, it isn't all that bad.  I have been through it.  If you can't dial a few extra numbers you are just fricking lazy.  I program all the phone numbers in my cell phone as 10 digit numbers anyway.  Have you ever had to pay for the new area code numbers you create, I didn't think so.  A split means that someone has to spend a lot of money for a useless cause.   

So everyone who wants a split, your just lazy and you don't care how much your biased decision might cost someone else who is hanging on by their fingernails, my hope is that your the one who has to experience the cost of reprinting everything that might have your phone number. 

I vote for overlay.  I will now step down from my soapbox. 

[patric]

Each has their merits, so im really undecided.

http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?topic=12625.0

Probably the most upset people will be those outside Tulsa if we split, who have to adapt to a new code.

[TheTed]

I'd prefer the split, just for selfish reasons. But the overlay's not a big deal.

Just from looking at area code maps and past history, there's basically zero chance Tulsa would get the new area code, right? Pretty much every time this happens the rural areas get the new area code while the metro keeps the old.

Yet every piece of literature I've read says it's not know who'd get the new area code. I can't find one place on these maps where the urban area got the new area code.

Just look at the old area code map.


And the new area code map.

[cannon_fodder]

Your "new" area code map is about a decade out of date.   Most up to date and much more accurate:

http://www.nanpa.com/area_code_maps/usmaps/Area_Code_Time_Zone_Map.JPG

[dbacks fan]

Your "new" area code map is about a decade out of date.   Most up to date and much more accurate:

http://www.nanpa.com/area_code_maps/usmaps/Area_Code_Time_Zone_Map.JPG

You beat me to it. Phoenix has had three area codes for several years. The only question we had at our house was on the maps that were passed out was wether we would be 602 or 480 the first ones were vague as to where the dividing line was. You can still get away with 7 digit dialing here if that number has not been assigned in either of the other area codes. The one advantage is when you here an ad for something and they give the area code with the number is that you can tell if it's east, central or west valley. Dialing 10 digits? no big deal, besides we use speed dial so much it doesn't matter.

If you look at his map http://www.whitepages.com/maps/PHE we ar in the northenmost section of 602.

[mjchamplin]

Dialing 10 digits? no big deal, besides we use speed dial so much it doesn't matter.

That's a good point. I don't really have to memorize phone numbers anymore. They're all in my phonebook on my phone...so I suppose it would have been more annoying had this happened 15 years ago.

[nathanm]

Wow, that message from EasyTel seems like it's from 1996. Overlays are easier on everyone. Why should the businesses out in the rural areas be forced to change their business cards, advertising, and signage when there's an easy alternative that would prevent that? Because we're too lazy to occasionally dial 3 extra digits?

Maybe I'm biased because I already have to dial 10 digits on my cell phone.

Edited to add:

I missed this gem the first time:

3.    An area code overlay may create inadvertent long distance calls being dialed when people think they are making a 10 digit local call.

Southwestern Bell has mandatory toll alerting (you must dial a 1 for toll calls). If EasyTel doesn't, that's a disservice to their customers that they are perpetrating. And apparently they haven't figured out that if you run a phone company you have to reprogram your switch anyway every time there's a new area code regardless of whether it's a split or an overlay and regardless of where the new area code is.

If your business has a key system or PBX, you don't have to do anything more than you do when they add a new exchange. Which for most businesses is nothing. Some, who bill calls to clients will indeed have to spend some money on updating their backend software to bill calls to some exchanges in the new area code as local. There have already been a good number of exchange additions in the free calling area here in Tulsa this year, so they should have been spending that money anyway.

What idiots. They just ensured that I won't be considering their service in the future should I have a business in their service area.

Edited again to add:

Also, there has only been one split (in Kentucky) since the end of 2005. All other new area codes have been implemented as overlays, even in split-happy California. There have been 61 overlays so far. If Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic can do it, surely we Tulsans can get with the program.