Change My Area Code, Please!

(Graphic by L.A. Times.)

Area code changes are generally less popular than root canals, as phone customers -- particularly businesses -- dread having to inform everyone of the change and spend money on new stationery.

That's why state regulators ultimately added a 424 area code "overlay" to the 310 region, rather than splitting it in half. Now, the debate is about to begin on what to do with the 818, which is about to run out of numbers: Split in half, or overlay?

In this case, however, the new area code is kinda cool: 747.

Yeah, like a jumbo jet. Given the sometimes negative Valley connotation associated with "818" (remember "Swingers"?), I'd think there'd be some people who wouldn't mind getting the cool, sleek "747" area code.

According to the L.A. Times, should the 818 be split in half, the west half (including Encino and Sherman Oaks) would get the new "747," so we'd still be stuck with 818 in Glendale. (I'd think it would make more sense to keep Burbank, Glendale and San Fernando in one area code, since they're not a part of L.A., and then the Los Angeles city portion of the Valley in another code. Makes too much sense, I guess.)

I do find it too bad that distinct area codes are going away, and what was once a geographic identifier is no longer. With so many area codes out there now, it's impossible to tell where people are calling from.

The paper writes:

With the rise in cellphones, Blackberrys and fax machines, and phone service offered over the Internet, they say the need for new numbers is exploding.

And the 818 -- which was formed in 1984 from the 213 -- is rapidly running out of numbers. Area codes have 792 prefixes, each with 10,000 phone numbers available. The 818 now has 61 prefixes left.

Officials with the North American Numbering Plan Administration, a contract agency of the Federal Communications Commission that monitors area codes, expect the 818 code to be depleted of numbers by late 2009. Similar problems exist in other Southern California suburbs, and officials are deciding whether to split or overlay the 714 (northern and western Orange County) and 760 (northern San Diego County) area codes.

Before 1984, all of the area was under 213. Actually, it wasn't even that long ago (ten years) that living in West Hollywood, my area code was 213.