Dialing a Remedy

Telephone users on the Westside and in the South Bay--the 310 area code--might soon get relief from a situation that’s had them fuming. If authorities answer their complaint, other area codes in crowded Southern California can thank the 310 protesters for stopping 10-digit dialing. And regulators can look in earnest for ways to avoid going so wrong again.

Since April 17, callers in the 310 have had to dial 10 digits, including area code, for every call. That was preparation for an “overlay” area code, 424, assigned to their neighborhoods. A single home, for instance, might have a 310 phone line and a new 424 fax line. The longer numbers and the area code overlay were a regulatory “solution” to a perceived dire shortage of telephone numbers.

A petition filed with the California Public Utilities Commission by Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles) asks the PUC, which is meeting Thursday, to roll back the 10-digit dialing and scrap the overlay. It should do that and vow never to impose such a “solution” again.

The 10-digit dialing is not a mere inconvenience. For many, it causes real hardship. Security access devices in apartment buildings do not accept 10-digit dialing, children in schools with telephones rigged to prevent long-distance dialing can’t call their parents, senior citizens and the disabled have greater difficulty with longer numbers, burglar alarms don’t work and Internet access is hindered.

California, the most populous state, with an unprecedented demand for new telecommunication services, might indeed face a “numbering crisis unparalleled in the United States,” as the PUC puts it, but the fault lies not with growth alone but with regulations dating back to 1947. The problem was compounded by newer rules issued with the industry, not the consumer, in mind.

Under the old rules, new numbers can be divvied out only in batches of 10,000--an entire prefix’s worth--even though the 190 phone companies in California might need only a fraction of that number at a time. The PUC estimates that, under this inefficient system, only about one-sixth of the 180 million allocated numbers are in use. But under current law, the phone companies need not return the unused numbers or even report their rate of use. The 10-digit dialing requirement was also imposed by the PUC (and independently by the Federal Communications Commission) for what were called competitive reasons, some of which no longer exist. Consumer complaints, even from the affluent, politically heavyweight 310, were brushed aside.

By granting Knox’s petition, the PUC would undo some of the damage. But more is needed to prevent future problems, and there a bill sponsored by Knox would help. The measure, AB 818, which has already passed the Assembly, obligates the PUC to seek federal authority to dole out numbers more efficiently and reclaim numbers that have not been used.

The FCC has already published a proposal to correct the inefficient allocation of phone numbers. New area codes might still be needed, but the rules should be adopted promptly to prevent the deepening of California’s numbers crunch.