The numbers remain the same, but many phones will have to be reprogrammed as the new 424-area overlay is applied to the entire 310 geographical region.
By Ward Lauren / Special to The Malibu Times
What many consider to be the dreadful day is at hand and there isn’t anything anybody can do to stop it. Beginning next Wednesday, a person making a phone call in Malibu to anyone else in the city, even next door, or anywhere else in the 310 area code will have to dial the full 11 digits-the phone number preceded by 1-310.
This procedure will be required with the use of all landline phones, according to an informational bulletin issued by Verizon. From a cell phone, callers need to punch one less digit, being able to complete calls by dialing just the area code plus the telephone number.
This will be the case everywhere in the 310 area code, the region stretching along the coast from Ventura County through the Westside and down to the South Bay area of Los Angeles County. The reason, according to the Public Utilities Commission, is the need to accommodate the growing demand for new phone numbers, spurred in large part by the incredible proliferation of cell phones in recent years.
Beginning Aug. 26, new telephone lines or services installed in the area will be assigned numbers with a 424 area code. The same 11-digit dialing procedure will be required for those given these numbers.
With the new rule, 310 area residents will have to reprogram all 310 area code numbers in telephones that have this capability. Among the many types of equipment that will be affected are fax machines, alarm and security systems, gates, speed dialers, forwarding settings and voicemail services.
When The Malibu Times queried Verizon as to possible alternatives to overlaying a new area code, such as adding just a single digit to the existing phone numbers, for example, Regional Office spokesman Jon Davies explained that the present telephone equipment is not designed to cope with an eight-digit number. The network throughout the entire U.S. is set up for seven digits plus a three-digit area code, he said.
As to why callers with a 310 number can’t keep dialing just seven digits when calling another 310 number, Davies said, “Because the network wouldn’t know whether you’re trying to reach a number in the 310 or 424 area. Eventually there could be another number the same as yours except for the area code.”
The only alternative to the overlay would be to split the 310 area one more time, he said. This is fraught with problems, such as deciding who gets to keep 310 and who has to change to the new area code. It also would create ever-smaller geographical areas.
“It makes sense that the new people moving into the area should get a new area code and the people who have lived in the 310 a long time should keep it,” Davies said. “That’s what the PUC decided was the fairest.
“So, looking at the glass half-full, the good news for people in the 310 area is they get to keep their area code and phone number. They don’t have to call everyone they know and tell them their area code just changed.”
Other things that will remain the same include the price of calls, other rates and services, and coverage areas. A local call remains a local call regardless of the number of digits dialed. Three digits will still be all that is necessary to reach 911 and the other special three-digit numbers.
As to why it is unnecessary to dial 1 before the area code with a cell phone, Davies said, “The cellular network was set up so that all calls basically are treated like a long distance call. You don’t have to differentiate between a local and a long distance call with the numeral 1. The land-based network was set up so that you have to tell the network whether you’re going to dial a local or a long distance number.”