Deliberations begin today to determine what the Oklahoma Corporation Commission will do to deal with the increased demand for numbers in the 918 area code.

The 918 area code is overloaded because of the growth of telecommunications devices and could run out of numbers by the second quarter of 2012.

Matt Skinner, Commission public information spokesman, said the two options the commission will be deliberating are an “overlay” or a “split.”

• In a split: Existing 918 area code’s geographic area would be split into two parts, with one part keeping the 918 area code and the other part getting a new area code.

• In an overlay: Everyone with a 918 area code would keep it. All new numbers would eventually get a new area code.

Muskogee City/County Enhanced 911 Coordinator/Manager Darryl Maggard said he has a concern about the overlay option.

“We get so many misdialed calls already,” he said Friday. “That (overlay option) will increase the number of misdials we get.”

With the overlay option, everyone dialing 918 would have to dial 10 digits, making it even more possible to dial 911 instead of 918, Maggard said.

The Corporation Commission will be made aware of that concern, Maggard said.

“I’m not sure of the kind of consideration the Corporation Commission will give to that,” he said.

Those receiving an area code change might be troubled with changing stationery, business cards and advertising, Skinner said. Alarm equipment, automatic dialers, bill statements, checks, computer lists, electronic banking information and other items would have to be changed to include the new area code, he said.

With the overlay, two area codes would reside in the same geography, so all local calls would require 10-digit dialing (the area code plus the seven-digit telephone number.) That would be about two years away, Commission officials said.

Muskogee County Commissioner Dexter Payne said he’s not had any comments from constituents favoring one option over the other. A meeting held in Muskogee in April to get input from citizens was poorly attended.

Some areas of public concern have been addressed by the Commission:

• The cost of calls will not change if your area code changes. Calls local before the introduction of the new area code will remain local calls. Local calling areas do not change when a new area code is established.

• 911 services will not be affected by the introduction of a new area code. Emergency calls will continue to be handled just as they are today.

• 411 services will not be affected. There is no change in the cost of a directory assistance call because of an area code change.

• 211 (Help Line) services will continue to be handled just as they are today.

• Who decides who receives the new area code? The commission would decide.

• Why not assign a new area code to faxes/wireless services as a way to provide more numbers? The federal government won’t allow it.

Area code boundaries don’t conform to municipal or county boundaries, Skinner said.

When the telecommunications industry considers new area code boundaries, it has to follow rate area boundaries, which reflect the physical infrastructure enabling telecommunications service.

The alternative would be to rip out in-ground facilities and rewire affected customers at a tremendous cost, Skinner said.



Reach Donna Hales at 684-2923 or dhales@muskogeephoenix.com.



What to do

Information: (800) 522-8154, or www.occeweb.com or e-mail m.skinner@occeweb.com or j.palmer@occeweb.com.



Why are we running out of numbers?

A combination of new technologies and increased consumer demand for regular telephones in homes and offices, cellular and PCS phones, pagers, lines used for fax machines, modems Internet access, and other uses have strained existing telephone number resources.

Also, new local telephone services providers need telephone numbers in order to provide service to their customers.

All of these factors have resulted in an increased demand for numbers in the 918 area code.

As a result, telephone number shortages have occurred at what’s called the prefix level. A prefix is the three-digit number between the area code and your four-digit line number.

Source: Oklahoma Corporation Commission