MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Silliness Corrupt-A-Topic (anymore off-topic and it would be on-topic)

Solitaire1 · 12-13-2015, 11:26 AM

I recently read an article in the New York Post about the addition of a new area code in New York City due running out of phone numbers in the previous area codes. In addition, some areas are having to go to people having to enter the area code with the phone number even for local numbers for the same reason. Added to this is the dramatic increase in the number of devices that need phone numbers (going from just the home phone and business phones at first to now the need for the home phone, cell phones for each family member, also other portable devices, and phones for business).

This led me to wondering, to deal with the issue once and for all, why don't the Phone Companies just bite the bullet and go to something like region codes? By region codes, I mean something like dividing the U. S. into several regions, with each region having its own region code. Using the time zones for an example, you could have the following:

2 - Eastern Zone
3 - Central Zone
4 - Mountain Zone
5 - Pacific Zone
6 - Alaska
7 - Hawaii

For calling within your zone you just dial the 10-digit number. To dial outside of your zone you dial "1" (to let the system know you are calling outside of your zone), the region code, then the 10-digit number. This would dramatically increase the number of available phone numbers since the same area code could be used in multiple regions.

12-13-2015, 11:26 AM	#5978
Solitaire1 Samurai Lizard Posts: 14,966 Karma: 70029956 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: NookColor, Nook Glowlight 4	I recently read an article in the New York Post about the addition of a new area code in New York City due running out of phone numbers in the previous area codes. In addition, some areas are having to go to people having to enter the area code with the phone number even for local numbers for the same reason. Added to this is the dramatic increase in the number of devices that need phone numbers (going from just the home phone and business phones at first to now the need for the home phone, cell phones for each family member, also other portable devices, and phones for business). This led me to wondering, to deal with the issue once and for all, why don't the Phone Companies just bite the bullet and go to something like region codes? By region codes, I mean something like dividing the U. S. into several regions, with each region having its own region code. Using the time zones for an example, you could have the following: 2 - Eastern Zone 3 - Central Zone 4 - Mountain Zone 5 - Pacific Zone 6 - Alaska 7 - Hawaii For calling within your zone you just dial the 10-digit number. To dial outside of your zone you dial "1" (to let the system know you are calling outside of your zone), the region code, then the 10-digit number. This would dramatically increase the number of available phone numbers since the same area code could be used in multiple regions.