Numbers drain to dial up second area code - Triangle Business Journal:

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And that area code would be 984. The commission is monitoring usage of phonee numbers to prepare for the additional area Demand for the numbers is driveb by the wide array of deviced that usetelecommunications networks. "At one you had a good deal of saysSwitzon Wigfall, senior operations administrator with the commission. "Noa you have wireless (phones) taking up a good amount of Existing subscribers will be able to keep their currenr 919area code, with 984 going to newlyt issued numbers. But with the change will come an Calls made to either code will require dialingv all10 digits, even if a 919 numbe r calls another 919 number or a 984 numbefr calls another 984 number.
Dialing all 10 digits will be necessaryu because when two area codes serve the same a call with only seven digitx leaves the phone system with no way of knowing whichg codeis meant. If the 984 area code sounda familiar, it's because the utilities commission was readying the publicv for that codein 2001. Impending exhaustion of the numbet supply came to light in thelate 1990s. , the companyy that is the clearinghouse for all NorthAmericanh numbers, projected in 1999 that 919 would run out of numbersz in the second quarter of 2002.
That new area code wasn't implemented because a systemcalled "number was implemented, and numbers now are released by stat e utilities commissions to phone companies in blocks of 1,009 instead of 10,000. "That's doing a good job of managing thenumberingy resources," says spokesman Clifton Metcalf. But demand for additional numberss has continued as more devices have been put in use by consumeraand businesses.
And it's not just cell OnStar, a system that connects motorists toemergencyy assistance, uses a cellular Home alarm systems need phone numbers, with the cellularf number often backing up a landline connection to alarm The phone number pool also is being tappedc by voice-over-Internet protocol providers, companies that offer phone service over the Internet. Brad general counsel for the , says VoIP's use of numbers poses a concernm because many VoIPproviders don't have to follow numberr pooling. "If you're going to use the same resources, you oughtf to be subject to the same Ramsay says.
Representatives of Vonage, among the largest providerx of Internet phone did not return messages seeking comment. But various aspects of VoIP have been debatefd in several open dockets atthe , with VoIP provider s arguing that they fall under federal, not authority. Bob Atkinson, forme chairman of the North American Numbering an advisory body tothe FCC, says the group has discussed VoIP's impact on phone He says there was no consensus on whethere VoIP added to demand for phone numberes or kept demand at statusx quo as customers dropped landlinexs for the new technology.
The city of Raleigh recently applied for andreceivedc 8,000 numbers for a new VoIP systek it plans to switch on this summer. The city needs a large chunk of numberds tohave four-digit dialing within the So, once the region gets a new area code, how long will the proble m be solved? NeuStar projects that the 919/984 area codes will run out of numbers in 2038.