Carving Up 714 Zone: Where Should Line Be? : Telephones: Companies suggest three ways to draw boundaries for old region and a new 909 area code.

Newport Beach (714), a glitzy magazine for the rich and famous, won’t have to worry about its masthead becoming irrelevant. And the high school kids on Orange County’s 714 All-Star team don’t have to send their jerseys back for new logos just yet.

They are among the lucky ones who get to keep their area code. But for millions of residents and businesses in the Inland Empire and the far-eastern end of Los Angeles County--and possibly even south Orange County--1993 will likely bring a new number to memorize: 909.

That’s the new area code proposed Tuesday by officials at GTE California and Pacific Bell in a plan to answer a shrinking supply of seven-digit numbers in the booming 714 region.

Under a first-time review process mandated by a new state law, the phone companies will hold public hearings on the proposed changes Nov. 26-30 in Ontario, Brea, Riverside, San Bernardino, Irvine and Hemet.

The proposals are: leaving Orange County as 714 and turning the rest of the existing area code into 909; splitting Orange County into north and south and making South County part of the Inland Empire’s new 909 setup; or interspersing new 909 numbers with the existing 714s throughout the entire region.

Under the last scenario, new telephone lines in the existing 714 area would be given 909 area codes, meaning that neighbors could have different area codes and could only dial each other using 10-digit numbers.

The plan that received the strong backing of the phone companies Tuesday would essentially break down the area codes by county lines: Orange County, with the exception of three northwest cities now in 213, would keep 714, while virtually all the rest of the present 714 area--from Diamond Bar and several other eastern Los Angeles cities, through western Riverside and San Bernardino--would switch to the 909 code as of January, 1993.

“This is the plan that will cause the least disruption for the public,” asserted Reed Royalty, area vice president for Pacific Bell. Although expecting resistance to the changes from some quarters, he said, “We think we’re easing the public into this as gently as we possibly can.”

Unlike problems that arose in creating the new 310 area code in Los Angeles and in other area-code changes, a division by county lines would be relatively easy in the 714 area because Orange County is already naturally divided from its eastern neighbors in many areas by unpopulated wild lands, such as Cleveland National Forest, officials said.

Royalty said the 714 area code is simply running out of numbers, forcing the creation of the new zone. Fueled by the region’s boom in population in general and in high-tech items such as cellular phones and fax machines in particular, customer lines in the 714 area have surged from 2.6 million lines less than five years ago to 4.7 million today.

Under a second plan put forth by the phone company, northern Orange County would keep the 714 code, while South County would join the Inland Empire in adopting 909. The main advantage of this plan, officials say, is that it would more equally divide the area’s 4.7 million lines than would the first plan, thus increasing the life span of the new area code.

A third “overlay” plan would allow everyone who now has a 714 area code to keep it, while all new users--no matter where they live within the region--would get the 909 exchange. This would mean that all 714 and 909 users, mingled in the Orange County and Inland Empire region, would have to dial 10 numbers to make any outgoing calls.

“Whoa, that one sounds incredibly unwieldy,” said Pat Crockett, president of the South Orange County Chamber of Commerce.

Crockett’s response was typical. Among more than a dozen people sampled informally Tuesday in the 714 area--from secretaries and clerks to city council members and business leaders--the plan to divide the areas by county was the unanimous choice.

“I don’t think any community wants to have itself split up any more than it has to be,” said Irvine City Councilman Barry J. Hammond, whose city would be divided at its southeast corner if the county is split. “We’re already split by freeways, so we don’t want to have an area code divide us even further.”

Even in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, community leaders said the value of keeping the switch simple outweighs the inconvenience caused them.

“I’m all in favor of breaking it down by county boundaries,” said Bob Kercheval, president of the East Valley Coalition of Chambers of Commerce, which serves San Bernardino and Riverside counties. “It’s somewhat of an inconvenience for us to switch, but as long as we know it’s coming, I don’t think it’s a big deal.

“The plan makes total sense, and I’d like to make the Inland Empire an area code unto itself--there’s a value in that identification,” Kercheval said. On the plan to make southern Orange County a part of 909 as well, he added: “I would rather that didn’t happen. It’s a far better deal for all of us here not to be associated with Orange County in a numerical sense.”

Under the popular county-division plan, Big Bear, Big Bear Lake and Running Springs--now part of 714 and served by Continental Telephone Co., rather than Pacific Bell or GTE--would be included in the 909 region. The Los Angeles County cities of Claremont, Pomona and Diamond Bar would also switch from 714 to 909.

But several unincorporated and largely unpopulated areas just outside Orange County will remain in 714: a small sliver of Los Angeles County south of Diamond Bar; in southwest San Bernardino Canyon in the Sleepy Hollow Canyon area; and in western Riverside County, on the southeast border of Orange County.

Those northeast Orange County cities now included in the 213 area code--Seal Beach and parts of Los Alamitos and La Habra--would be unaffected by the switch. Under an earlier plan, they, along with other parts of Los Angeles, are to switch to 310 in 1992.

The plans have been under development for more than a year. A final decision will be made in January and the changes should be in effect in early 1993. Phone company officials say the area code changes--regardless of which plan is ultimately accepted--will not affect calling rates; that is determined by call distance, not area codes, they said.

Despite the phone companies’ assurances of an easy transition, some frequent phone users were still clearly skeptical after Tuesday’s announcement.

“I lived in L.A. when they switched (from 213 to 818) there, and it was a real pain,” said Jenni Neff, a secretary at the Santa Margarita Co. “It’s tough to get used to. And I’m sure they’ll find a way to charge you more for the phone calls now too.”