Overlay in 310 Seems Probable

Time might finally be running out for the 310 area code as residents now know it.

The Public Utilities Commission is set to vote Thursday on a plan to overlay a new 424 area code on top of it. After years of debate, both sides acknowledge that the plan will probably be approved.

The proposal, which calls for virtually all new numbers issued within the 310 boundaries to have the 424 area code, won a big boost recently when an administrative law judge sided with phone carriers and agreed that the area code was running seriously low on numbers.

The ruling could have far-ranging implications because five other area codes in California are expected to run out of phone numbers by 2009, according to the North American Numbering Plan Administration. These include the San Fernando Valley’s 818, Orange County’s 714, San Francisco’s 415, San Jose’s 408 and southeastern California’s 760.

PUC commissioners have not yet given a public indication of how they will vote. But Janelle Beland, legislative director for the late Assemblyman Mike Gordon, who was opposed to the overlay, said that after meetings with the commissioners last month, “they’ve given us every indication they are going to vote for it.”

The proposed 310 / 424 overlay would give California its first region with two overlapping area codes. It would also mean that all customers along the coast from Malibu to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and inland to Beverly Hills, Torrance and most of Inglewood would have to dial 11 digits to make any phone call -- “1” plus an area code and seven-digit number. This has outraged some residents, who now can dial phones within the 310 area using only seven digits.

If commissioners approve the recommendation Thursday, phone carriers will immediately be able to begin preparing for the overlay. On Dec. 31, a grace period would begin, giving residents time to reprogram their phones and get used to the new system. But after July 26, 2006, all callers in the 310 would be required to dial 11 digits. Phone companies would begin handing out 424 numbers beginning Aug 26.

Residents and phone companies have been battling for years over the future of the 310. In 2000, officials proposed splitting the area code into two separate zones, giving the South Bay the new 424 area code and allowing the Westside to keep 310. But that plan has been strongly opposed by South Bay communities that don’t want the expense of changing stationery and signs.

But South Bay officials say the overlay isn’t much more popular. “I think there’s going to be a great outcry, sure,” said Redondo Beach Councilman John Parsons.

Many South Bay leaders are skeptical of phone carriers’ claims that the 310 is running out of numbers, and have urged the PUC to institute more conservation measures. These include forcing pager companies to return unused numbers as phone companies are required to do, and pressuring the Federal Communications Commission to grant permission to set up a special area code for ATMs and credit card machines, which also require phone numbers.

“The phone companies have been screaming for a split or an overlay since 1997, and here it is and we haven’t run out of numbers,” said state Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey). “There’s a credibility problem. The people in the 310 area code have no confidence that this really disruptive action is really necessary.”

Beland said the PUC should delay a vote and conduct a new independent audit to determine how many numbers there really are, instead of rely on phone carriers’ figures.

But Administrative Law Judge Thomas R. Pulsifer dismissed those suggestions, saying the phone number shortage is real.

Under PUC guidelines, a judge considers the phone carriers’ proposal and submits a recommendation to the commission, which has the final say.

His opinion noted that as part of its conservation measures, California requires phone carriers to return blocks of phone numbers they receive if they don’t use them within six months. To ask for more phone numbers, carriers must also show that they will run out of their existing supply within half a year.

“In view of the exhaustive measures we have implemented to promote efficient and fair number allocation, we affirmatively conclude that no further measures are left to be performed as a basis to delay taking further action to provide for adequate supplies of numbers in the 310 area code,” Pulsifer wrote.

Phone carriers, which have been long pushing for a new area code, are optimistic.

“When you think about the customer demands for landline phone numbers, wireless, ATM, credit card machines, faxes and Voice over Internet Protocol, and you think about the density of the population in the 310, common sense will tell you we’re running through [phone numbers], and we’re running out,” said Susan Lipper, a T-Mobile senior manager for governmental affairs.

But foes of the new area code aren’t declaring defeat.

Bowen said it was the combined clout of residents, businesses and lawmakers on the Westside and in the South Bay that forced the PUC to abandon its previous plans for an overlay. “Without us working on this issue, we would have had an overlay or split in 1997 or 1998,” Bowen said. “I wouldn’t count them out yet. They are a powerful force.”