The 740 area code could be exhausted by 2015, leaving the state with two possible solutions: splitting the current 740 region into two area codes or installing an overlay that would allow existing numbers to stay the same and force new subscribers onto the new code.
The Athens County Commissioners voiced their concerns about the county’s emergency dispatch being affected by the switch with Dan Pfeiffer, county 911 director, at their meeting last week. He assured them that the dispatch would not be drastically impacted.
The commissioners then showed their support for a split rather than an overlay in a letter to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, which is overseeing the decision.
“That way everyone in Athens County will have a 7 digit number instead of a 10,” Athens County Commissioner Charlie Adkins said.
Each option has its downsides, however. The overlay would require dialers to use all 10 digits when dialing, or the line won’t connect. On the other hand, a split would geographically divide those currently under the 740 area code because half would keep their number and half would be assigned the new code, which has yet to be determined.
Pfeiffer said he is in favor of a split because an overlay could result in complications at the Athens emergency dispatch. He also noted that Athens’ current 740 area code is the result of a 1998 split when the 614 area code was exhausted.
“Any change with phone numbers will affect this, Pfeiffer said. “With the overlay we’d have two area codes we’d have to work with in the county. When the dispatch takes a call, they’d have to confirm it. We’d be working with two numbers. It just complicates the process.”
He added that the exhaustion of the 740 area code doesn’t entirely have to do with a boost in population but local businesses registering more machine-to-machine communication.
“Here at 911 we have multiple phone lines that don’t even do anything with someone talking on the phone. They’re used to get dispatches from our towers,” Pfeiffer said. “Any business that does anything has a computer link that’s dedicated to reading credit card numbers, and that’s a phone number.”
Preliminary outlines of each proposal’s effect on the region, which includes southeast and parts of central Ohio, are available on the Public Utilities of Commission of Ohio website.
Athens falls into area “B,” but it is unsure whether area “B” would be assigned the new area code or keep its current one, said Jason Gilham, a spokesman for the utilities commission.
Gilham said an overlay will most likely not affect businesses, and the only thing that would change is an individual’s dialing habits. The cellphone industry mostly prefers the overlay option, he said, and the utilities commission will have a consensus on what consumers think when public comments close Nov. 27.
The public also has until that time to weigh in on the utilities commission website about what it’d like to see done about the area code exhaust.
Numerous comments have already been made on both sides by Athens residents, according to its website.
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