Every now and then I read a story that makes me stop and ask, “Really, just now?”
Such it is this morning with this item from a television station in West Virginia:
10-digit dialing is creeping into our area so 911 centers and Verizon are trying to get the word out.
Beginning February 28th Verizon and other companies in the Mountain State will require all calls to be made with an area code and Verizon tells us this is the most significant telephone change we’ve had in 50 years.
Harrison-Taylor 911 Director Paul Bump tells us it may sound silly but he wants folks out there to know they don’t have to dial area codes before phone numbers like 911 and 411.
If you think that’s silly think again. All manner of strange things can happen once an area makes the leap from old-fashioned local-vs.-long-distance dialing to all-10-digits-all-the-time. In fact, changing people’s dialing habits in any way can cause trouble, so public safety officials have every reason to be concerned.
Take, for example, my office here at Network World. While Massachusetts has had 10-digit dialing for a number of years now, it’s only been since moving our headquarters and acquiring a new phone system last summer that the extra number-punching has made people punchy.
What’s been happening? Some of my co-workers, who shall remain nameless, keep dialing 9-1-1 … accidentally. The “9” gets an outside line; the first “1” — as every West Virginian will soon learn — is needed on every call; and, where that second “1” comes from is anybody’s guess. But every time someone does it, the local fire department is required to respond in person. They are not amused, as you might expect.
Good luck with that, Mountain Staters.
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