PUC Looking Into Area Code ‘Overlay’ for O.C.

Orange County residents would get a new telephone area code by late next year in the same region as the current 714 code if regulators approve a plan under review at the California Public Utilities Commission.

The plan to “overlay” a new code would prevent further divisions within the 714 region, which was split just last year. With the overlay, two area codes would cover the same geography, eliminating the ability to dial a neighbor’s number using just seven digits.

Instead, callers would have to dial 11 digits--1 plus the area code plus the seven-digit phone number--to reach residents and businesses within that zone.

If the change is enacted, the entire region would keep the 714 designation, and businesses and residents would keep their existing phone numbers and area code. When numbers grow scarce in the 714 region, new numbers will be issued using the overlay code. That new number has not yet been selected.

The cost of calls, which is based on distance, duration and time of day, would not be affected.

State regulators were scheduled to rule Thursday on the 714 overlay proposal--in addition to a controversial plan to split Riverside County’s 909 area code. But both decisions were postponed until March 18.

Under the Orange County proposal, the new overlay code--which has not been contested--would be introduced in October 2000 and become final in February 2001.