The FCC is considering allowing states to designate area codes just for cell phones and pagers. Given the realities of present phone switching, the idea of phone codes that have to designate physical areas makes little sense to me, and the continued burgeoning of pager and cell phone numbers is driving locations like Southern California into an ever-increasing balkanization of tiny areas, or else locations like Denver into area code overlays.
(A side note. I’ve got no problem with overlays. They’ve worked fine here with 303 and 720, and requiring 10-digit dialing for everything is no more annoying than the 11-digit dialing required for folks in places like SoCal to call anywhere but across the street. I don’t make that many phone calls across the street.)
Mobile phone companies have objected for years to the idea of separate area codes for their devices, feeling that this makes them somehow “second class.” That makes no sense to me, but that’s true for a lot of things. I think the real reason is that it will make it more difficult for those companies to charge differential rates for where cell phone customers call from, or are called. Technically, it will still be possible, but practically speaking, it will make it more difficult for them to claim that people should understand why there’s a (chargeable) difference between my phone tying into the AT&T cell system in LA vs. doing so in Denver or Boston.
I expect to have a new cell phone, and new cell phone number, within the next week. I wouldn’t mind having one that designates that it’s a cell phone. In some ways, that would actually make my life easier.
(Via Boing Boing)
Hi, Dave! I’ve christened Doyce’s blarg so now I’m gonna dibble on yours, too! 😉
Amusingly, I read this little bit and got the feeling that the rest of the country is pretty much going to catch up with the big cities. Here in NYC, we’ve had the 917 overlay for some time now. Now there’s the 646 overlay, and right behind it came the 347 overlay. What’s next? Thing is, there’s really no “prestige” left in the area defined by an area code here anymore. You might as well just call it a switching code. Most people generally associate 212 with Manhattan, 718 with Brooklyn and Queens and 917 and 646 and 347 as just about anywhere in the area.
Moreover, this idea that area codes should define areas seems silly, especially since most cell companies now treat large chunks of the country as ‘home’ areas. For instance, I could be anywhere from Maine down to parts of Northern Virginia and still be considered in my home area and not incur roaming charges. My long distance is free. Duh. Of course, the reverse isn’t true. If people are calling me from a land phone, they’re still calling New York, even if I’m standing beside them in San Diego.
Right. I’ve been rambling. Not bad for a start, eh? Soon… soon… I will have my own blarg thing (as soon as I figure out what the hell happened to my stylesheet.)
Overlays are cool. Really. I really don’t understand the irritation people have with them.
Can you break this code it is for a race I am in Satuday and I don’t have a clue HELP!
ROGKTNE VNF SEK WERTF QOJR DNIE FOIJENDDK SSWELO PYLTO RD MINE BIIFR ONMD MNBFIW?
467234 45 349 088 12543 34 65416 7633.
000101011101010000010111 10011101010010110100101010101011011 0110010010101101001011001 11010 001010110 1010101101010 1001000100101100 1001010001001 10101000100 10101001 0101001 101010 1010110 010001 111010011 110100010 01101001 00001 11010010?
11010001001001110 011010 10011 11100 100 001 0010110
You know, this is the way spy novels start …