The three most controversial numbers in the Chicago area have been chosen: 224.
That’s the area code that will be used if Ameritech gets its way and implements a so-called “overlay” system in the north and northwest suburbs beginning this fall.
Under the controversial proposal, all new telephone customers and current customers who request new lines in the current 847 area code will be assigned to the 224 area code if their phone company has run out of 847 numbers.
And everyone in the area, including current 847 phone users, will have to dial “1” plus an area code for every phone call–even down the street.
It is a frustrating prospect to area residents, who were broken off into the 847 area code only two years ago.
The 224 area code was announced Tuesday by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator, an agency that oversees phone number use nationally.
It remains uncertain when the new area code will go into effect. Ameritech, which distributes phone numbers in the area, says it will be needed on Nov. 7. But the Illinois Commerce Commission must sign off on the implementation, a decision expected in August.
On Monday, the commission threw out consumer groups’ requests to block the overlay, leading to the announcement of the new area code number.
But the commission Monday also began investigating whether phone companies were sitting on giant blocks of unused 847 numbers that should be turned back into a pool, freeing up numbers and possibly delaying the overlay.
Ameritech says it will run out of phone numbers to distribute in the 847 region by November.
Consumer groups and some competitive phone carriers also have criticized Ameritech’s past practices of distributing numbers in blocks of 10,000 to any phone carrier requesting them.
They contend that such practices, along with the surge in paging and cellular companies as well as the demand for extra phone lines for faxes and Internet connections, has helped deplete 847 numbers.
Only recently has Ameritech started rationing the numbers.
A spokesman for the Citizens Utility Board, which wants to postpone the new area code, said Tuesday there is “no threat of 847 running out this year.”
“If Ameritech follows the order of the commission and institutes number pooling and number conservation, there wouldn’t be a need for a new area code,” said Seamus Glynn, the board’s associate director.