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Residents living in 315 can expect company AREA CODE: The Public Service Commission may add a new area code to the geographic area now covered by 315 Wayne County residents and those of you in Clifton Springs, Phelps and parts of Farmington in Ontario County, take note: Threeone-fiver jokes will be here to stay if the Public Service Commission follows a judges advice. Howard A. Jack, a state administrative law judge, has issued a 30-plus-page document calling on the Public Service Commission to keep the 315 area code and add a second threedigit code, or overlay, to the same geographic area for new numbers. The result: 315ers would still be, well, 315ers. But in their midst would be homes and businesses with a yet-tobe- determined new area code. Callers would be required to dial 11 digits (1 + area code + seven-digit number) instead of the current seven, even when calling within the region. For example, if you were to call your next-door neighbor, youd have to dial 11 digits even if you were both 315ers. The PSC has been considering various options since it expects to run out of available 315 numbers in 2010. The 315 area code, in use since the 1950s, encompasses all or most of Wayne, Cayuga, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego and St. Lawrence counties, along with parts of Ontario, Seneca, Yates, Otsego, Chenango, Cortland, Fulton and Hamilton counties. Jack rejected other plans to divvy up the 315 area geographically; that is, one section would retain the 315 code while another would get a new code. In his recommendation he wrote, an overlay treats consumers in the region more fairly and equitably. A geographic split would necessarily impose virtually all of the burdens of area code relief on residential, business and institutional telephone users in the zone receiving the new area code, while users in the zone that retained the existing 315 code would bear essentially none. His recommendation is in line with feedback gathered by the PSC at 14 public hearings held across the area this past spring. Farmington Town Supervisor Ted Fafinski said the judges recommendation is ridiculous because for his town it could result in three different area codes. Farmington is now part 315, part 585. It's obvious that a judge sitting at the bench doesnt have the vision beyond the edge of the bench in this particular case, Fafinski said, who favors a geographic split. PSC spokeswoman Anne Dalton said the agency is continuing to take suggestions on its hotline at (800) 335-2120. Dalton said the PSC can reject, accept or modify the recommendation by Jack. A final decision is expected in the first half of 2009, she said.
For more information and to view the entire recommendation, visit www.ask psc.com Copyright
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