And the New Number is … 949; Plan Filed to Split Orange County's 714 Area Code

Business Wire, Dec 26, 1996

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 26, 1996--An area code relief plan has been submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission that would split the 714 area code in Southern California's Orange County and create a new area code -- 949 -- to serve the county's southern half.

California Code Administrator Bruce Bennett submitted the 714 area code relief plan earlier this month to the Commission for review and final approval. Bennett said the plan is supported by the telecommunications industry and reflects customer input received during three public meetings in June.

Bennett said the Commission also will be asked to determine the new area code's introduction date. Most members of the telecommunications industry have asked the Commission to move up the scheduled introduction date by six months from April 18, 1998 to October 18, 1997, due to rapid phone number usage in the 714 area code.

Under the 714 area code relief plan, the existing 714 area code -- which serves most of Orange County -- would be split near the county's geographic center. The details are as follows:

Most existing 714 customers in the northern portion of Orange County would keep the 714 area code. Some of the communities that would remain entirely in the 714 include: Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Orange, Placentia, Seal Beach, Stanton, Westminster and Yorba Linda. The majority of customers in Santa Ana and Tustin would also keep the 714 area code. The 714 area code would also continue to serve very small portions of Brea, La Mirada, La Palma, Los Alamitos and La Habra.

Most existing 714 customers in the southern portion of Orange County would receive the new 949 area code. Some of the communities to be served by the 949 include: Aliso Viejo, Balboa, Capistrano Valley, Corona del Mar, Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, and Santa Ana Heights. Most customers in Irvine would also receive the new 949 area code.

Several communities located along the new 714/949 split line border would be served by both area codes, meaning part of the community would stay 714 and part would receive the new 949. In Irvine, for instance, most of the city would be served by 949, except a small portion to stay 714. Other cities that would be served by both area codes include: Santa Ana and Tustin, which primarily remain 714 and Costa Mesa, which would be divided in half by the two area codes.

In planning area code splits, Bennett said the industry tries to avoid dividing cities. "However, sometimes this cannot be avoided because telephone wire center serving boundaries do not necessarily coincide with city and county lines," he said, explaining that the telephone wireline network has been in place for many years, while political boundaries have changed over time. "Consequently, we cannot always follow political boundary lines and still gain adequate area code relief."

The Commission is expected to issue a final decision on the 714 area code relief plan as early as January. Persons who wish to comment on the plan may write to the:

California Public Utilities Commission President P. Gregory Conlon 505 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102

Bennett said two 714 geographic split options were presented to the public for comment during meetings in June. Both plans used a north/south Orange County split to create a new area code and were very similar, except one also kept Huntington Beach, Westminster and half of Fountain Valley in the 714 area code.

"In general, the public preferred the plan that included Huntington Beach, Westminster and Fountain Valley in 714 due to a strong community of interest between these cities and other nearby cities in the 714," Bennett said. "There was also a concern that Santa Ana, being the county seat, should remain in the 714.

"We were able to make those adjustments, although it shortens the life of the 714 area code by almost a year." Other adjustments to the original plan included keeping all, rather than only part, of Fountain Valley in 714, Bennett said.

As proposed, the new 949 area code would last 18 to 22 years, while the reconfigured 714 would last four to five years.

While customers who receive the new 949 area code will have to change the area code portion of their telephone number, the new three-digit code will not affect the price of telephone calls in any of these areas, Bennett said. "Call distance determines call price and is not impacted by the creation of a new area code," he said. "What is a local call now will remain a local call regardless of the area code change.

"It's also important for customers to know that PBX's (private phone systems), auto-dialers, alarms and other telecommunications equipment will have to be re-programmed to recognize the new area codes," said Bennett, adding that people should check with their equipment vendors to see if their equipment needs to be reprogrammed. "Historically, area codes always had either a "1" or a "0" as the middle digit for identification purposes, but all of those codes have been used." These new number combinations allow area codes to be any three digits from 220 to 999, creating an additional 5 billion telephone numbers nationwide, Bennett said.