Phone Industry Recommends 10-Digit Dialing Plan For Eastern Washington Would Allow Customers To Keep Numbers

Eastern Washington residents could be dialing 10 digits to make local telephone calls if state regulators adopt a plan recommended Thursday by the telecommunications industry.

Officials meeting in Bellevue, Wash., voted to support a plan that would superimpose a second area code over the same territory now reached by dialing 509.

The additional three-digit code, which has not been selected, would be put in place by mid-2002, said Marilyn Meehan, spokeswoman for the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.

But, she added, commission staff members continue to question the need for a second area code.

The three commission members ultimately may decide to take other action to satisfy the industry’s need for additional phone numbers dedicated to new services such as the Internet and wireless communications, she said.

Industry representatives were summoned to Bellevue by NeuStar Inc., which has a contract with the Federal Communications Commission to manage the nation’s telecommunications numbering system.

NeuStar submitted five proposals. Four involved splitting the 21 counties into two separate area codes; the other is the overlay adopted Thursday.

If implemented, an overlay preserves the numbers - including the 509 area code - of current telephone customers. New customers, or those obtaining additional lines, get 10-digit numbers, including the new area code.

All dialing would be 10-digit, probably after a brief transition period.

Directories publish the 10-digit numbers. Only calls that require a “1” bring long-distance charges.

Rates are not affected.

NeuStar estimated that without a new area code, all available prefixes within the 509 area code would be used up by mid-2002.

But the utilities commission staff and some industry officials challenge that assumption.

“We are skeptical that there is need for any new area code at all,” Meehan said.

She said the staff could recommend the commission order companies to pool unused numbers, a step that would fend off a new code for months, if not years.

The commission will look at all the options, probably after holding some public hearings, she said.

Terry Vann, executive vice president of the Washington Independent Telephone Association, said hearings and other education efforts are vital.

“I am outraged that they held a 509 area code meeting in Bellevue,” he said, adding that most of his members were attending another important meeting on universal telephone service.

But Vann said he does not necessarily fault the finding that an overlay is the best solution to the numbering problem.

Nobody likes 10-digit dialing at the outset, he said, but the alternative - split areas - inevitably angers those who have to give up their old number.