Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 20

if 'A20 The Arizona Republic Thursday, November 19, 1998 New area code to create ID-digit local cialie It's perfectly ridiculous. People associate a specific area code with a geographic area and I'm concerned Phdenix will lose its identification. I'm' disappointed with (the Corporation Commission 's) decision. Skip Rimsza phoenix mayor NEW, from Page A I alternative prefix to new numbers. As a result, everybody will have to preface a local phone number with an area code either 602 or the new number, which has yet to be assigned by the Federal Communications Commission.

I As soon as the FCC approves the new prefix, it will begin being assigned to all new phone numbers in the Valley. By February, residents will get a prompt when they make a seven digit phone call, reminding them that in the future they need to add the area code. After several months, callers will be told to hang up and try the call again iwith the area code. I "The unfortunate 2 to 1 vote Remonstrates there were no good alternatives," said Commissioner Jim Irwin, who along with Carl Kunasek voted in favor of the said he opposed the proposal because consumers were clearly against it. "Most of the calls we got were against it," he said.

Jennings said the overlay concept, which could result in a single household having two different area codes, erodes the concept of geography, a sentiment echoed by Phoenix Mayor Skip Rimsza. "It's perfectly ridiculous," he said. "People associate a specific area code with a geographic area and I'm concerned Phoenix will lose its identification. I'm disappointed with their (the commission's) decision." Irvin said he would have preferred the new area code be 1 assigned geographically instead of randomly. But he said the geographic distribution plan under consideration was not practical.

The so-called "doughnut" plan would have allowed Phoenix to retain the current 602 area code and assigned a new one to all other Valley communities. Calls inside Phoenix could have Irvin estimated that, under the overlay plan, the Valley won't have to consider a third area code until 2007.. The need for a new area code is being driven by tremendous demand for new phone lines and numbers due to the proliferation of pagers, cellular telephones, fax machines and computers. "The 602 numbers were being depleted so rapidly that we had to make a decision this week," Irvin said. He explained the North American Numbering Council, which assigns and tracks telephone numbers for the FCC, had warned the Commission it would begin rationing Valley phone numbers in December if it couldn't come up with a plan for a new area code.

"We didnH want consumers in the Valley to be punished because of growth. So we felt we had to take action," Irvin said. Jennings countered that the reason the Commission was backed into a corner was because it has been dragging its feet for months on the issue. "We're under the gun now because the Commission has taken so long on this," he said. Jennings supported the, "doughnut" proposal as an interim measure to give the Commission tirpe to come up with a mere viable plan.

One such proposal would have been to assign the new area code to fax machines, "pagers and modems and leave the 602-area code for voice lines. Another plan would leave the 602 area code for the central Valley and assign one new prefix for the East Valley and another for the West Valley. Irvin said that he also supported those concepts, but that it was doubtful the FCC would approve either plan. Jennings, however, said he had detected a softening in the FCC on such matters, and was optimistic that given time it would have approved one of them. "Now that we've adopted an overlay, we can't go back later and adopt a geographic plan," he said.

Max Jarman can be reached at 444-73S1 or at max.jarmanpni.com via e-mail. residents have to deal with this untenable situation," she said. Irvin said the geographic split was generally the most popular, being favored by US West and the Arizona Consumers Council. I But he said the downside to the "doughnut" proposal was that in two years, a third area code would be required. "It was a short-term solution that wouldn't make the problems go away," he said.

"In a couple of years we would be back to splitting it up again, and things would start to look like LA." The Los Angeles area, which had one area code a decade ago, now has more than a half dozen. been completed with seven digits, but calls to one of the other communities would have required dialing the area code. Similarly, Scottsdale residents, have called Glendale with peven but it would have taken 10 to reach Phoenix. "Phyllis Rowe, president of the Arizona Consumers Council jbe-lieves the commission supported the overlay plan to appease the business community, which expressed concerns about the cost of redoing advertising, stationary and business cards under the "doughnut" plan. "This way the business people get to keep their numbers and the measure.

Commissioner Renz Jennings Cox OK'd to offer telephone service COX, from Page A I what areas. Deputy Phoenix City Manager George Britton said opening up the city's telecommunications market to competition will improve customer service, produce lower phone bills make the Phoenix area more attractive to outside businesses. "If you're technologically a Third World city, companies will think wice about moving there," he said. rV ri t' Britton said the city would like to have additional competitors enter A -rf- i of add-ons such as call waiting, caller identification and others, Smith said. The charges for extra lines and add-ons will be even more competitively priced than the basic rates, she said.

Besides lower rates, Smith said, Cox hopes to be able to offer Phoenix telephone customers better quality reception with its digital system and more reliable service, due to its upgraded cable network. Cox also hopes to offer superior customer service with a 24-hour repair program and time guarantees on service and repair calls. US West spokesman Jim Roof said, "It's just an indication of the development of competitive options and alternatives in this area. We welcome competition and believe it will benefit customers and us as a company." The door for competitive local telephone service was opened with the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. In August, legislation took effect in Arizona allowing municipalities to grant licenses to competing tetephone-service providers.

The first to grant such a license was Chandler, which gave an interim permit to Cox Arizona Telecom in August. The service was made available to 5,000 Chandler households last month and by the end of the year 40,000 customers should be eligible for the service. Cox eventually plans to offer the telephone service to all of its 600,000 cable television customers in the Valley and has license applications in the works in Glen-dale and Scottsdale. Long term, Cox plans to expand its network to make the telephone-Internet-televi-sion package available to more than 1 million Valley customers. "This licensing agreement is a major step to achieving Cox's goal to provide Phoenix area consumers with the benefits of competition," Smith said.

Max Jarman can be reached at 444-7351 or at max.jarmanpni.com via e-mail. the market and has held discussions vith and several other potential telephone service providers. I "It's something the council has pushing for more than a year," Phoenix Mayor Skip Rimsza said. "We're pleased that Cox has expressed an interest in offering its telephone service here." Phoenix resident Silvia Carpenter said she is receptive to telephone if it means lower rates 'and better service. But she said she Avas skeptical and would probably stay with US West.

"Sometimes its better to let 'people do what they do best," she "US West is a telephone company and Cox is a cable television company." Cox is trying to change that though. The Cox telephone service will be available over the company's Icable television lines, enabling customers to receive television, telephone and Internet services from the same source. Cox's Internet Service "Cox at Home" became available to upgraded cable customers earlier this year. The cost for all three services Svill be about $90 per month, Smith Cox projects the basic cost for its telephone service will be $1 1.75 per imonth, or 10 to 12 percent below VS West's base rate. Cox also will in-state and out-of-state longdistance services, plus a laundry list f.

.1 I i VISA Fiicei Every $1 you give now will ship $17 worth of food, clothing and medical supplies. Please help suffering survivors now. THE WORST CRISIS TO HIT THIS HEMISPHERE EVER has devastated Honduras, Nicaragua and other parts of poverty-stricken Central America. At least 10,000 dead. More than 1 million left homeless.

Heartbreaking accounts of little girls and boys wandering alone. Orphans of Hurricane Mitch. No food. No clean water. No medical care.

BUT HOPE IS ON THE HORIZON. FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY, a Christian relief and development organization, has been offered the free use of airplanes and free space on two cargo ships to rush emergency food, clothing and medical supplies to those who need them most. But we need emergency funds to fuel the planes, pay for loading, unloading and transporting the life-saving supplies to the emergency shelters where the needs are the greatest. 15) fo) HEP FOR SUFFERING SURVIVORS. Not An Introductory Rate No Annual Fee Year-End Purchase Summary Credit Limit Up To $20,000 $250,000 Common Carrier Travel Accident Insurance Balance Transfer Savings I I i i A YOUR GIFT ML BE r.ULTIFLIrD 17 THES! I want to help send life-saving supplies to victims of Hurricane Mitch.

I'm enclosing: $17 to ship $289 in life-saving supplies, 1 $25 to shiD $425 in life-savina suDDlies. pit I I I I I I I sbV jH $50 to ship $850 in life-saving supplies. to ship as much help as possible. it, FnnH fni Lottie Hungry I Mid netdt wiwidnxk CspitalOne' Meeting ptnmd ifuttwi Name Address P.O. Box 12349 Scottsdale, AZ 85267 www.lh.org I I ZIP, City (L991-HZZ1) Call 1800-479'8767 To Apply IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES: Your annual percentage rate for purchases and balance transfers is 1 fixed rate of 9.9 10.027 daily periodic rate).

Minimum FINANCE CHARGE is $0.50. Your annual percentage rate for cash advances and convenience checks is a fixed rate of 198 (0 064 daily periodic rate). Cash advance fee equals 2.5 of the amount of the cash advance, but never less than $2.50. 2002-062 www.capitalone.com.