Pennsylvania 814/582 Forthcoming Area Code Relief
The 814 area code in Pennsylvania covers the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania including the Erie PA Metro area (legacy VeriZon/GTE), and makes a "quarter turn" around the outside of the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania (the Pittsburgh PA Metro area which is 412 and
724, and overlaid with 878 since 2001 even though there aren't yet any POTS 878-NXX codes assigned), meeting the PA/MD state-line east of the southwest corner/Pittsburgh metro area.814 has covered the same geographic area since the US/Canada area code format was finalized in October 1947 - it has never been split before. There _MIGHT_ have been "slight" boundary changes in years past, but I'm not aware of, i.e, it's always "possible" that a single ratecenter (or maybe two or three) have changed to/from 814 from/to an adjacent area code, but for the most part the boundaries of 814 are basically the same as they were since 1947.
The eastern/southern parts of 814 (Altoona PA and State College PA) are VeriZon/Bell-of-Pennsylvania, and the northwestern parts (Erie PA) are mostly VeriZon/GTE, with some VeriZon/Bell-of-Pennsylvania. But both sides also contain other independent telcos, including:
- Frontier
- CenturyLink-old-Embarq/Sprint/United
- Windstream-old-Alltel/Mid-Continent Tel
- other one-time GTE and GTE-once-Contel areas which are all now part of VeriZon (Pennsylvania is one state where VeriZon has NOT sold-off any legacy GTE and Contel, retaining it all under the VeriZon name)
- Armstrong Tel
- etc.
In 2009, NeuStar-NANPA, on behalf of the telco industry, submitted a petition to the PA-PUC for an additional area code for "relief" of the 814 area code region. Relief planning for 814 had actually begun by NANPA and the telco industry going back to 2002. The industry's first-choice was for an overlay.
HOWEVER, on Thursday 16-December-2010, the PA-PUC announced that they had decided 5-0 (unanimously) for a SPLIT of 814, where the Erie PA (northwestern side) would CHANGE-and-SPLIT to the "new" (TBD) area code, while the eastern/southern parts of 814 (State College PA and Altoona PA) would retain the 814 area code. A Press Release was issued by the PA=PUC: "PUC Approves Splitting 814 Area Code to Avoid Running Out of Phone Numbers"
Almost immediately, the business/government/etc. customers in the Erie PA metro area (and residential customers too) began to raise an uproar, stating that since the Erie PA area is more populated than the rest of the existing 814 region, that "they" (Erie PA and the northern and western regions of existing 814) should retain the 814 area code. However, MOST of those complaining are NOT seeking to "flip" the sides of the split (i.e., where Erie would retain 814, with the "other" side of Altoona and State College splitting-off-and-changing to the new 582 area code). Instead, those businesses/etc. in the Erie/etc. area who are upset by the PA=PUC's December 2010 split decision, would rather that the PA-PUC put in an OVERLAY of 582 over (all of) 814, even though this does mean mandatory ten-digit dialing throughout the entire 814/582 region.
The PA-PUC tried to justify their split decision by stating that the public hearings in early 2010 held in the Erie PA area were sparsely attended. However, the originally scheduled hearings in Erie were to have been in February 2010, and had to be postponed to April 2010 due to extreme weather conditions in February.
During the second half of December 2010, several grass-roots petitions to the PA-PUC were drafted by the Erie business and government "community", most of them to have the PUC change the pending split to an OVERLAY, although a few requested that the pending split be "flipped around".
In early January 2011, various news/press/media stories on radio/TV/ newspaper websites indicated that the PA-PUC had received at least 10 petitions requesting that the pending split be changed (in some way). VeriZon and AT&T are both leading an industry effort (probably with support from the various above mentioned independent landline telcos, larger CLECs, and probably also Sprint and T-Mobile) to have the pending split changed to an OVERLAY.
Yesterday, Thursday 13-January-2011, the PA-PUC acknowledged that there have been approximately 40 petitions requesting a change in the pending split, and the PUC is going to re-consider, after further public hearings and "technical conferences". A PUC Press Release has been issued: "PUC Agrees to Further Review Decision in 814 Area Code Relief Case, Plans Additional Public Hearings, Technical Conferences"
- 215 had 610 split off in 1994/95.
- 412 had 724 split off in 1998. (it WAS to have been a 1997 overlay)
- 717 had 570 split off in 1998/99.
Since then, ALL area code relief in Pennsylvania has been overlay:
- 215 overlaid with 267, and 610 overlaid with 484, both in 1999.
- Both 215/267 and 610/484 were to have been overlaid again in early
2001, 215/267 with 445 and 610/484 with 835, but these further overlays were postponed until further notice.- 412 and 724 were overlaid with 878 in Summer 2001, but so far, even though ten-digit dialing in mandatory throughout 412 and 724, there are still no 878-NXX "POTS" c.o.codes yet (but it's POSSIBLE that the first 878-NXX code might be assigned sometime in 2011 or 2012).
- and this past Summer 2010, the PA-PUC approved a 570/272 overlay, but the implementation date is still TBD.
- 717 is also undergoing relief planning, and it is LIKELY that it will be overlaid, but the PA-PUC hasn't approved anything yet. The "guessed at" relief code is 223.
Also, most of the states which border Pennsylvania have overlays, and with one exception (New York State), those bordering "overlay states" have an actual overlay bordering Pennsylvania:
- Ohio has overlays, and 330/234 borders Pennsylvania.
- ALL of West Virginia is 304 overlaid with 681, borders Pennsylvania.
- BOTH Maryland overlay regions: 301/240/(future 227) and 410/443/(future 667) border Pennsylvania.
- New Jersey has overlays, and 973/872 borders Pennsylvania.
New York State borders Pennsylvania, but its only current overlay region, for New York City -- 212/646, 718/347/929, /917 -- is NOT adjacent to Pennsylvania.
Delaware also borders Pennsylvania, but it is still just a single area code, 302. However, it is likely that whenever DE/302 does need relief it will be an overlay.
Other recent new area code overlays were originally ordered as splits by their respective state regulatory bodies, even though the telco industry initially requested an overlay. Either the telco industry or the general public eventually convinced the regulatory body to change to the telco industry's originally preferred overlay:
West Virginia 304/681 was ordered as a split in early 1998, but after grass-roots efforts, the WV-PSC then changed it to an overlay, which took effect in 2009.
Utah (Salt Lake City Metro) 801/385 was ordered as a split in 2000, to become effective in 2000/01, postponed several times with new announced implementation dates, postponed "indefinitely" in 2004. In 2007, the telco industry requested that the UT-PSC change it to an overlay, which was approved, effective in 2009.
California also had two overlays recently, but both were originally ordered by the CA-PUC as splits.
In 1999, the CA-PUC ordered a split of 818 in the area north of the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, including the San Fernando Valley area. The southwestern part of 818 would have split-and-changed to the new 747 area code, with 818 retained by everything else. No formal implementation dates were announced at the time in 1999. By 2008, the telco industry re-petitioned the CA-PUC, to approve of firm/official implementation dates, and also to change the pending split to an overlay. The overlay took effect in 2009.
Also in 1999, the CA-PUC ordered a split of 760 in eastern/southern California, where the immediate suburbs of San Diego Metro would split off and change to the new 442 area code during 2000, and 760 would be retained by the remainder such as Palm Springs CA (legacy GTE/CW&T) and Victorville CA (legacy Contel). Most of the area retaining 760 would have been VeriZon (both GTE and GTE-once-Contel) with some Pacific*Bell and some other independent telcos, while the 442 area code would have been all Pacific*Bell for landline service. This split was put on hold before being implemented in 2000. In 2007, the telco industry re-petitioned the CA-PUC to approve an OVERLAY of 760 with
442, but in Spring 2008, the PUC ordered a split (roughly along the same boundary as the previously ordered 2000 split), to be effective in Fall 2008 permissive, Spring 2009 mandatory. Businesses and local/state/federal government agencies (including the US Navy) in the San Diego metro area, as well as individuals residential customers started a grass-roots petition effort to have the split changed to an overlay, which was eventually approved by the PUC in October 2008. The overlay took effect a year later in October 2009.The only other pending split has been the Kentucky 270/364 split, approved initially by the KY-PSC in late Spring 2007. However, the implementation dates were subsequently delayed numerous times by the KY-PSC every time NANPA came out with new/revised area code "exhaust" projections. Eventually, the KY-PSC ordered the split to be on hold "indefinitely", but more recently the PSC ordered the split completely canceled. When 270 does eventually need relief as determined by a future NANPA exhaust projection, the telco industry is to start 270 area code relief planning over again, from "scratch", which SEEMS to indicate that the KY-PSC MIGHT at that time be more "overlay friendly".
The last actual NPA split in Canada was the Alberta 403/780 split in early 1999, where 403 was retained by the southern "third" of the Province (Calgary/etc), and 780 was the new "split" code for the central "third" (Edmonton/etc., Edmonton being the Province Capital) and northern "third". In 2008, the entire Province of Alberta, both
403 and 780, was overlaid with the new 587 area code.The last actual NPA split in the US was the New Mexico split in 2007/08.
505 was retained by the northwestern and central (Albuquerque/etc) parts of the state, with 575 splitting off for the rest of the state. The NM-PRC thought that the public would have preferred a split, but after the split was in progress during permissive, and since it has gone "mandatory", there has been a "buyers' remorse" -- the NM-PRC and the NM business/etc. community now realizes that the overlay would have been much better.EVERYTHING ELSE in recent years has been OVERLAYS in both the US and Canada. And Puerto Rico (which is a US possession) implemented the
787/939 overlay in 2001. The Dominican Republic in the (non-US) NANP-Caribbean has implemented TWO overlays -- 809/829 in 2005, and then 809/829/849 in 2009.Jamaica is the next (non-US) NANP-Caribbean location which might soon need relief in the next couple of years. 876 is filling up, and a new code has been reserved. The "guess" is for 658. There has been NO decision yet by the Jamaican OUR (Office of Utility Regulation) as to whether it will be an 876/658 split or overlay, but I tend to think that the Jamaican OUR will likely approve an overlay.
With all of this recent overlay activity, especially splits which were originally planned for which were changed to overlays, HOPEFULLY the PA-PUC will reconsider the pending 814/582 split and instead order a full services 814/582 overlay, although there might even be further number/code conservation measures put into effect first.
Mark J. Cuccia markjcuccia at yahoo dot com Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina