SPOKANE – The 509 area code – the glue that binds Yakima to Usk, and Stehekin to Anatone – is only for only another five years, the state said Wednesday.
Then Eastern Washington will need a second area code.
The state Utilities and Transportation Commission is taking steps to extend the life of the 509 area code, and avoid the fate that has befallen Western Washington, which has four area codes.
“Every time a new area code is added or changed, there are disruptions and potential costs to businesses and citizens,” UTC Chairman Mark Sidran said in a news release.
To delay that, the UTC on Wednesday ordered telephone companies in the 509 area code to adopt a phone-number conservation plan that will more efficiently use the limited number of prefixes available. By recycling and conserving telephone prefixes, the three-digit number after the area code, the 509 area code is expected to last until at least 2011, the UTC said.
Eastern Washington has had the single area code since 1957.
“The plan we approved today ensures that we make the most of the existing numbers and put off as long as possible the need for a new area code in Eastern Washington,” Sidran said.
In rural areas in Eastern Washington, phone numbers are still assigned to phone companies in blocks of 10,000, regardless of how many a company might need, the commission said.
If a company needs only 1,000 numbers under current rules, it is assigned 10,000. The remaining 9,000 unused numbers then become unavailable, even though another phone company may need them to serve new customers.
Under the change, phone numbers will be assigned in smaller, 1,000-number blocks, reducing the wasted numbers. Number pooling permits several companies to share a single three-digit telephone prefix.
Last November, the Federal Communications Commission gave the state permission to require telecommunications companies to use the smaller 1,000-number allotment and return unused telephone prefix numbers. On Jan. 24, the new phone-number conservation program began in the 360 area code in Western Washington, the state commission said.
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