Judge Recommends Delay in Approving Area Code Overlays

An administrative law judge recommended holding off on six proposed area code overlays, including one set to go into effect in Orange County next year, the state utilities commission said Wednesday.

Judge Thomas Pulsifer recommended that the Public Utilities Commission suspend the planned overlays, including one for the 714 area code, while new methods of distributing numbers to telephone companies are being studied.

Under the proposed plan, new telephone numbers within the existing 714 area code would be given a separate area code sometime next year. The method, known as an area code overlay, would require callers in the region to dial 11 digits--the number 1, the area code and the number--on all calls, even those within the same area.

Experts say the new codes are necessary to satisfy the increasing demand for telephone numbers, especially in California where the popularity of multiple phone lines, pagers, cellular phones, automated teller machines, modems and fax machines has created one of the largest telecommunications markets in the world.

But consumers have complained about the inconvenience of the overlay plans.