Dialing 10 Digits

All of the temporary fixes that delay the implementation of area code overlays are just that. In the not too distant future all telephone numbers will include the area code for everyone in the U.S. The spread and utilization of communications are growing too rapidly for it not to happen.

What The Times has failed to point out is the utter redundancy of dialing the 1 in front of the real 10-digit number. Since we in the overlay area must dial all 10 digits no matter whom we call, the leading 1 is totally unnecessary. It should not be that difficult to reprogram all of the switches in the 310 area to require only 10 digits, not 11. Now there’s a bandwagon that I could see myself joining.

MORT BERNSTEIN

Los Angeles