Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Area Code 651 established - 7/8/1998, . • . • • 1 . • . • • • . • •.•• •,••'•,••. . •••
Transitionperiodbegins
be ins for area code.
By SARA PETERSON
Calling across town won't be
as easy as before now that the
new 651 area code has gone
into effect.
The area code change splits
the metro area down the mid-
dle, with western communities
remaining in 612 and eastern
communities switching to 651.
A six-month transition period
began July 12. During this
time, new and old area codes
will work. However, starting
Jan. 10, 1999, the 651 area
code must be used to complete
calls to this area.
Farmington, Rosemount, Ea-
gan, Mendota Heights, St. Paul
and all other communities in
the eastern metro are now in
the 651 area code. Lakeville,
Apple Valley, Burnsville,
Bloomington, Richfield, Min-
neapolis and the western cities
remain in 612.
The Minnesota Utilities
Commission decided to split
the area code in order to meet
an increase in demand for
telephone numbers for a wide
variety of telecommunications
services, including fax ma-
chines, cellular phones,
pagers, voice mail, computer
modems, and additional phone
lines.
According to Jack Phillips of
Frontier Communications, the
introduction of the hew 651
area code will ,not affect your
local calling area (the area in
which all calls are local).
However, the way you dial lo-
cal calls between 612 and 651
area codes will change.
To make local calls between
area codes it will be necessary
to dial 10 digits (the three -digit
area code plus the seven -digit
phone number).
To make a local call within
the same area code, a caller
can complete the call by dial-
ing the original seven -digit
number or the new 10-digit
number.
Phillips said the new area
code won't affect rates for long
distance calls or local service.
He added that current seven -
digit phone numbers will not
change and there will be no
• • • • • 1 • •• •
Code
changes for 911 emergency
calls or calls to 500, 700, 800,
877, 888, 900, and 950 num-
bers.
"The transition period gives
customers an opportunity to
make changes and become
familiar with the new area
code," Phillips said.
In the meantime, Phillips
noted it is important for people
to notify friends, family, cus-
tomers and others about their
new area code. Checks, sta-
tionary, and advertising must
be altered to reflect the
change. The new area code
also means reprogramming
(See Code, p.8A)
(Continued)
speed dial equipment, mo-
dems, alarm systems, and
PBX/key systems.
Phillips encourages people to
begin making a habit of dialing
10-digits instead of seven in
order to ease into the new area
code change.
Beginning Jan. 10, 1999, the
l0-digit dialing will become
'mandatory for local calls be-
tween the 612 and 651 area
codes. Seven -digit calls across
area codes will be blocked and
referred to an announcement
reminding the caller of the
change. The same will be done
for 10-digit 612 calls to the
St Cloud
320
VIinsted •
P,nc C t,
Cambridge
Blahs .
Minneapolis •
Bloomington •
Apple Valley •
Le Sueur •
507
,i
Northfield
NEW 612 and 651 area codes
new 651 area code.
To ease the confusion, a ref-
erence guide has been mailed
to telephone customers, Phil-
lips said. Customers can also
call the company's Call Center
(1-800-435-1504 for residential
and 1-800-953-9335 for busi-
nesses) with questions.
Phillips said available tele-
phone numbers in the 612 area
code are rapidly being de-
pleted. According to Phillips,
there will likely be an exhaus-
tion of the 612 area code
within 18 months to two years
and another area code split
will be needed.
•
Branch
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LaLiices
• St Paul
• Eagan
Farmington
.g
Winona •
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Is everyone
ready for
area 651?
New area code to
take effect July 12
By Mike Cook
Minnesota Sun Publications
Your fingers will soon need to
do more walking if you live in
Eagan and want to place a tele-
phone call to Apple Valley,
Burnsville or other points west.
Beginning July 12 the new
651 area code becomes opera-
tional.
The new prefix will serve St.
Paul and most communities onv
the east side of the Twin Cities
metropolitan area, including
Eagan. Most of Dakota County
will change to the 651 prefix, ex-
cept for Apple Valley , Burnsville
and Lakeville, which will remain
in the current 612 area code.
The change is necessary be-
,;cause the 612 ar 4r cep is run-
ning out of numbers. '' -
The Minnesota Public Utili-
ties Commission issued its final
order regarding the split along
municipal boundaries March 31.
US West and Frontier Commu-
nications preferred the area code
change along switching station
lines; however, that could have
put parts of cities in different
area codes. This is the first time
an area code change in the Unit-
ed States has been drawn along
municipal boundaries.
A six-month transition will take
effect beginning next week, allow-
ing people to become accustomed to
dialing the extra numbers. Begin-
ning Jan. 10, 1999 use of the new
area code will be mandatory. Call-
ing within an area code will require
the usual seven numbers.
Dialing between the two area
codes will not equate to long dis-
tance charges and people do not
need to dial "1" before the 10-
digit number.
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For cellular telephone users their area
code will depend on where their switch-
ing station is located, although Marc
Fournier, a telecommunications analyst
with the Minnesota Public Utilities Com-
mission, said they can "grandfather"
their existing numbers.
Emergency 911 service will not be af-
fected by the change.
Is the technology in place to make the
change smoothly?
Fournier said the PUC is not nervous
about implementation because when the
320 area code (which included St. Cloud)
went into effect in 1996 it went "flaw-
lessly as far as we could tell. We're hop-
ing it'll go like that."
The same can be said for Frontier and
US West, which serve most of Dakota
County. Both think it will.
"Despite the challenge of doing this
along municipal boundaries, things are
going smoothly and we are confident we
will be ready," said Mary Hisley, public
relations manager for US West in Min-
nesota. "With anything this complex you
cannot guarantee there will never be any
glitches to work out."
"We are on target and we are confident
we will be ready," said Jack Phillips, regu-
latory manager for Frontier. "The equip-
ment has been tested in the switch and
we've got it to the point where it works."
The software need for implementation
cost Frontier $2 million. Other costs are
not known because they used internal re-
sources on this project; however, that
meant people could not do other things
they would normally do.
Hisley said the new area code is ex-
pected to cost US West between $4 mil-
lion and $5 million, while the company
will spend another $1 million on adver-
tising and customer education.
j1.9)a.11 SL'tVl
Code: Emergency 911 service will not be affected by change
Fournier said some people are aware
of the forthcoming change while Hisley
has found a high level of awareness the
change will occur, but people are not clear
about where the boundary will be.
For those who aren't aware of the
change, they will be. "Unless they are like
Rip Van Winkle, customers will hear
about the change," Phillips said.
Customers for both companies will be
, receiving notices in their phone bills "dur-
ing the next
seven months.
US West is also
putting a mes-
sage on the out-
side of the
billing envelope.
Together the
companies will
produce print,
radio and televi-
sion ads about
the new area
code. The ads
will be run at
the beginning,
middle and near
the end of the
probationary di-
aling period.
"There will
also be some ad-
vertising in
things like USA
Today so people
in other parts of
the country know
there will be
changes here,"
Phillips said.
Frontier compa-
ny officials are
planning to make
presentations to
local groups and
organizations to get the word out.
Letters were sent to businesses in the
US West area and other companies have
been encouraged to do the same.
For some businesses switching to 651
may mean some telephone equipment
will need to be upgraded or replaced to be
capable of dialing or receiving a 10-digit
call or to complete calls into the new area
code. A test telephone number (1-651-
296-2644) will be available beginning
July 12 so businesses can see if they can
successfully complete the call. A record-
ing will let them know they have suc-
cessfully reached the test number. "If the
call doesn't work the business knows
they must contact their equipment
provider to ask what they must do to get
their equipment ready," Hisley said.
The telecommunications companies
are ready with technology and an adver-
tising campaign. Are Eagan businesses
and residents ready also?
Insty-prints of Eagan expects people
will catch on to the change but for now,
many are still confused or unaware of the
new code, said co-owner Joe Dwyer.
"There's still a lot of our customers un-
aware of the new code. We're more aware
than they are. We expect the floodgates are
going to open in July and August," Dwyer
said. Many businesses also have been
holding back on ordering printed items
with the new area code, and are waiting for
old 612 inventory to become depleted.
West Group of Eagan has an internal
task force that is ready to implement an ed-
ucational program for informing employees,
customers and co-workers in other states.
"We saw this coming several months
ago. We wanted to make this as smooth a
process as possible," said West
spokesperson Andy Shriner.
West is prepared to send out 20,000
postcards and insert notices into 750,000
billing statements, Shriner said.
Rosemount resident Leigh Anderson
said the new area code is something peo-
ple will simply need to get used to, espe-
cially young residents.
"I think it would have been a more in-
telligent solution to change fax machines,
cellular phones and pagers other than
the residents. If that's where the growth
is let them get the new one."
He pointed out people in the Twin
Cities have been lucky, as many other
large metropolitan areas already have
two or more area codes.
For the Rosemount -Apple Valley -
Eagan School District, the change means
their schools will be split among the two
area codes. "It's not an ideal situation to
be split down the middle, but at this time
we're certainly preparing for it," Commu-
nications Specialist Tony Taschner said.
He said some school calendars for 1998-
99 are already being published; however,
some will not have an area code with the
seven -digit phone numbers.
"Wed like to catch as many publications
[school calendars, student handbooks] as
possible with the new area code," Taschner
said. He said once the new area code takes
effect it will be like calling everywhere else
in that callers will think about dialing the
extra three numbers, depending on which
community they are calling. "If it's your
kids' school you're going to find out quickly
how to get a hold of them."
"We plan to publicize what the new
area codes will be for specific buildings,
especially if there is a situation where
one expects a building to be a certain area
code and it is not," Taschner said.
The Burnsville -Eagan -Savage School
District say that calls to Rahn Elementary
and Cedar School in Eagan will require di-
aling the new 651 code. Hisley of US West
said the same should be true for Metcalf
Junior High, which lies within the Eagan
city limit but has a Burnsville address.
Parents who live in Burnsville and
want to call Metcalf, Rahn or Cedar
schools will have to dial 651 before dial-
ing the seven -digit number beginning
with the 707 prefix assigned to District
191. The same is true in reverse. If teach-
ers or students at any of those three
schools want to call Burnsville, they will
need to dial the 612 area code.
District officials in 191 and 196 be-
lieve their four -digit internal dialing sys-
tem between buildings will not change.
The Minnesota Telephone Association
has set up a Web site at www.mnta.org
for people seeking information about the
area code issue.