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The PSC has gone loco on new area code
1/30/2008 11:38 PM  

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Sprouse

By VIC SPROUSE

CHARLESTON -- Sometimes, government officials don't think through the implications of their decisions.

Sometimes, they want to do good, make a decision and don't realize the impact that their decision causes.

Of course, I have to feel this is what happened to the PSC when they voted to create a new area code for numbers based on geography.

Say what?

Why not just overlay the new area code on top of the old one?

Is it really going to be THAT helpful to see area code XYZ come up on your phone and say, wow, someone, somewhere north of Flatwoods is calling me, that really narrows it down.

Wait, wait.

Most of you might be saying, big deal, who cares, what's the difference, so what if they change the area code in the northern part of the state.

Well, it's OK -- unless you are a business. Unless you do telephone directories. Unless you have business cards that will now have to be replaced. Unless you are a resident there.

Just think through ALL the places that use our phone number for identification, all the utilities, all the credit card companies, pretty much anyone you pay a bill to... and, now imagine individuals across 28 counties having to make all the those calls and change all those numbers.

It's completely ridiculous and absurd and unnecessary.

It is a nightmare for any business in the new area code.

This is simply not thinking through your decision.

Otherwise, there is NO possible way the PSC could decide to make EVERYONE in a geographical region change their area code.

I'm sorry, but its a very dumb move.

It doesn't affect me or my businesses, thankfully, because we retain our number. But, to think through ALL of the business information that will have to be changed, even for small businesses is nothing less than a... well, nightmare.

The PSC must reverse course. It simply was a bad, bad, bad decision.

Sprouse has served in the Legislature since 1995 and resides in Charleston. He graduated from Penn State University with a Chemical Engineering degree and currently owns and operates several fitness centers in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

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Comments on this article

  • New area code

    Get over it, Vic! The rest of the country is dealing with new area codes. My parents live near Los Angeles and have their third in 25 years. Yes, it can be inconvenient. When I worked in San Diego, I had to call a different area code to the building across the parking lot because the "boundary" was the property line, set before my company expanded. I dealt with it. How hard can it be to dial a few numbers, Vic? Here's how it works: 1) It is announced many months ahead of time. People and businesses have months to plan ahead and order the new area codes on their replacement cards and letterhead. 2) There is usually about a six-month period where the old area code still works. If you're a business person and can't deal with something this simple, you have MUCH BIGGER problems! Yes, an overlay SEEMS easier in the short term, however, you then have callers confused about which area code to call. Vic, use your time to create some better laws for West Virginians. I just wasted about $7.50 on tolls from a weekend trip. And I am STILL waiting to get back the $360 in privilege tax that I was ripped off for when I moved here seven years ago. How about bringing more JOBS, here, Vic? And we need a state noise law that deals with out-of-control construction companies. I've lived next to a MAJOR construction site in Hurricane for 17 months now.... THOSE are issues you should be dealing with!

    by Mark Hallburn

    url:

  • The PSC has gone loco on new area code

    EVERYONE loses in a split! While I do wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Sprouse's article on overlays vs. splits, he did say the following: "It doesn't affect me or my businesses, thankfully, because we retain our number." Well, the area code split DOES affect you, and it actually affects ANYONE/EVERYONE in the WHOLE WORLD (not "just" the northeastern part of WV who will have to change from 304 to POSSIBLY 681 or 932), it also affects people keeping 304 elsewhere in WV, as well as everyone/anyone throughout the US/Canada, and for that matter, the entire world, if they have any reason to place calls to northeastern WV, either in the near-term, as well as the far-term, since advertisements, brochures, catalogs, webpages, listings, etc. with 304 indicated as the "sole" area code for ALL of WV, will still be embedded in such "legacy" documentation. Someone elsewhere in the state, US/Canada, or the rest of the world, who picks up an old brochure, with an old embedded/legacy 304+nxx-xxxx number listed for a company or person in Wheeling, Clarksburg, etc., and needs to place a call to that number, might not realize that this is NOT 304 anymore, they might not knw that there is now this "new" different area code for northeastern WV (most likely to be either 681 or 932). And that 304-nxx-xxxx number they see listed is most likely toto have been reassigned to someone else altogather different in southwestern WV who knows NOTHING about how their number USED to be for something in northeastern WV under the "pre-split" era of 304. I don't live in WV. I'm in Louisiana. But I too HATE splits anywhere they are still being done, because *I* am ALSO affected by New Mexico's split, Kentucky's split, and now WV's split, if I have reason to call to the "splitting-off" area code in that state! With an area code split, EVERYONE loses!

    by Mark J. Cuccia

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