One City, One Area Code

In the past 10 years, Pacific Bell telephone has added five new area codes to the L.A. area that needlessly inconvenience and complicate the essential tasks of dialing a telephone. I remember a time when a single area code--213--represented the city of Los Angeles. Now the greater L.A. area involves nine area codes, more than any single state except for California and Texas.

Los Angeles is America’s second-largest populated area and it is growing. In the past decade. there has been an unprecedented proliferation of telecommunications devices such as cell phones, beepers, modems and faxes that strain the finite amount of assigned phone numbers. New York City is larger in population but it only has three area codes. The majority of the 50 largest cities in America have only a single area code, including Washington, Miami, Denver, Boston, Houston, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Cleveland and San Diego.

The proliferating hodgepodge system of area codes in L.A. is exceptional and extremely unnatural in the world of telecommunications. The roots of the problem lie in history. Phone numbers have been seven digits for more than 50 years because that number provided an adequate number of permutations to match the demand for assignable phone numbers. But the increased urbanization and the creation of telecommunications devices like the beeper, modem and fax resulted in demand outstripping supply.

The problem with introducing new area codes is it heralds an era of instability and nonpermanence. In the next 10 years, there will be more demand for phone addresses and thus the number of area codes will proliferate rather than reduce.

I believe technology exists for our convenience. We should make it conform to our needs, not vice-versa.

I propose that we adopt an eight-digit local phone number, which would have an adequate number of assignable phone numbers to again be unified by a single area code, and yet also be fewer numbers to dial.

Mathematically, seven digits--i.e., 999-9999--permits the largest number to be 9,999,999 or approximately 10 million permutations. For perspective, the L.A. metropolitan population is approximately 10.1 million. Eight digits provides 10 times this amount or 100 million permutations. For perspective, the L.A. metropolitan population is approximately 10.1 million. Eight digits provides 10 times this amount or 100 million permutations. For perspective. the U.S. population is approximately 270 million. This plan could accommodate 10 times the current number of phones in a single area code and thus accommodate all nine area code numbers into one area code.

This new phone system would superimpose an additional digit in the first position of the standard seven numbers. There could be some basic order such that operator services and government agencies would begin with 0 or 9. Long distance numbers begin with a 1. Residences would begin with 2, 3 or 4. Commercial organizations would begin with 5, 6, 7 or 8. Even numbers would be voice phone. Odd numbers would be non-voice devices like faxes and beepers. It may be the whole country would be converted to eight digits.

Los Angeles is a city with problems of centralization, as witnessed by the secession movement in the San Fernando Valley. It is further fragmented by the telecommunication system, which balkanizes the region into arbitrary divisions that make neither geographic nor intuitive sense. We need a long-term solution, not a patchwork of short-term area codes.

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Jacob Tom is a senior radiology resident.