TERRE HAUTE —
You’ve heard of child prodigies who can play Mozart on piano or perform calculus at the age of 5.
That wasn’t me.
I did, though, memorize my home telephone number: Wabash-1265.
Actually, it boiled down to W-1265. Only the first letter of the local prefix names — officially known as “exchanges” — was dialed in greater Terre Haute in the mid-1960s. “W” for Wabash, “C” for Crawford, “H” for Harrison, and so on, with each exchange representing a different geographic sector of the community. A “W” translated to a 9, “C” a 2, and “H” a 4, according to the letters-to-numbers format on a rotary telephone.
So, if a kindergarten classmate needed to call me, he would spin 9-1265 in sequence on the phone dial. (Probably concerning bike riding or a kick-the-can game, rather than a concerto or algorithms.)
All of that seems quaint in 2013 … rotary phones, exchange names, 5-digit numbers, one-phone households.
We’ve come a long way, baby.
“Dialing” amounts to tapping your finger on a touch screen. “Prefixes” switched from exchange names to 3 digits after 1966, locally. “Phones” no longer have cords, fit in the palm of your hand, connect to the World Wide Web, and transmit text messages, photos and hilarious slogan posters to any and all of your 768 Facebook “friends.” A family of four may have seven phones — personal cells for parents and kids, a landline, and work mobiles for Mom and Dad — and, thus, seven phone numbers. Maybe eight, if they’ve got a home fax machine.
So, it’s hardly a shock that southern Indiana is on the brink of using up every possible 7-digit phone number in its venerable 812 area code. The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission discussed a handful of options for “area code relief” last week in a public meeting at Terre Haute — one of several IURC sessions planned in the 812 region, which covers the lower-third of the state. A decision must be in place by 2015. The likely choice is an “overlay,” which allows anyone with an existing 812 phone number before 2015 to keep it, and phone numbers issued after the overlay would have a new area code. The other possibility is a geographic “split,” a physical division of southern Indiana into 812 and a new area code.
On the upside, the overlay would spare businesses the expense of changing numbers; on the downside, every local call would require dialing all 10 digits, area code and all. And, next-door neighbors could have different area codes.
The real surprise is that this situation — “area code exhaustion” — took so long to occur.
Of the original 87 area codes created by AT&T and Bell Laboratories in 1947 across the nation, 812 is one of a small number that hasn’t maxed out the pool of 7-digit numbers and remains intact. “There are not that many that have” remained intact, said Wayne Milby, senior area code relief planner for the North American Numbering Plan Administrator, a neutral overseer of the continent-wide system.
In Indiana, northern Indiana (once 219) split into 574, 260 and 219 in 2002. Central Indiana (once 317) split into 765 and 317 in 1997. Nationwide, since 1995, the number of area codes has doubled.
Maybe other regions gobbled up new technological devices faster than 812. With just 22 percent of the state’s residents, maybe the southern Indiana population generated less demand than other locales. Maybe generous allocation of three area codes for Indiana in the original mapping in 1947 — most states received just one, Milby said — eased the strain on 812 numbers.
Regardless, we are about to shove the days of “Wabash-1265” ever deeper into the past.
The numbers involved in this technological saturation stagger the minds of folks who’ve actually placed a forefinger in the rotary phone dial or asked an operator to place a long-distance call.
Each area code contains 7.92 million useable 7-digit phone numbers. The population in the 812 region is approximately 1.4 million people. Together, we’ve used up all but 500,000 of the eligible phone numbers, according to IURC projections. The proliferation of tech gadgets such as pagers, faxes and cellphones rapidly drained the well of numbers. In 2001, phone numbers issued to telecommunications providers in blocks of 10,000 were trimmed to blocks of 1,000, which reduced the amount of idle unused numbers and bought 812 an extra decade of life as-is.
“As-is” doesn’t last long in the 21st century, of course.
“It’s amazing how quickly this technology has changed,” said John Koppin, president of Indiana Telecommunications Association for the past 28 years.
Like many baby boomers, Koppin can instantly recall his childhood phone number in Indianapolis, “Clifford-54527.” (Given its size, metro Indy needed an extra digit.) Nostalgic as that sounds, dialing a “C” and 5 digits marked a huge advance from the early days of asking an operator for a connection to a number. A Hoosier undertaker, Almon Strowger of LaPorte invented the mechanism, enabling customers to dial themselves after he figured out a local operator was routing people needing funeral services to her husband, a rival undertaker, Koppin explained.
From that breakthrough came exchanges such as Wabash and Crawford, area codes and the current 10-digit phone numbers.
Those 10 digits will come in handy. The number of mobile phones in use in the U.S. — 327 million — exceeds the population. The concept of carrying my own phone in my back pocket would’ve seemed so “Star Trek” back when I was memorizing Wabash-1265 and our lone family telephone — a sturdy, curly-corded, beige Model 500 — sat on the countertop in our kitchen.
Despite the spread of devices and the need for numbers, the FCC and NANPA say there are enough potential area codes (792) and 7-digit numbers (7.92 million per area code) to last until 2042, or beyond. Less than half of available numbers are in use, said Mark Wigfield, FCC spokesman. Just in case, an FCC task force — the Future of Numbering Working Group — is tracking trends to give the commission ample time to avert a shortage.
Post 2042, what happens? Climbing to 11 digits from 10 would expand the possible phone numbers by tenfold, Milby said. It would also cause a Y2K-style uproar in terms of programming the tech gadgets.
In the meantime, southern Hoosiers must get accustomed to a different area code and some extra local dialing. The new area code cannot be made public until NANPA receives the relief order from Indiana, Milby said. But the numbering guidelines for area codes narrow the possibilities — it can’t match any of the 3-digit prefixes now in use in 812; the first digit can’t be a 0 or a 1; and, preferably, it won’t be too similar to other Indiana area codes or those in bordering states.
So, Bond fans can’t lobby for 007. And 666 — still unclaimed — is probably out, too.
Otherwise, plenty of mathematical possibilities remain in a numbers pool still 30 years deep. Somebody get a prodigy on the phone to figure it out.
Mark Bennett can be reached at 812-231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.
Opinion Columns
MARK BENNETT: Digit dialing a thing of the past, but telephoning is still a numbers game
- Opinion Columns
-
-
Mark Bennett: High-profile mural connects historical dots from city to river
At 96 feet wide and 2 stories tall, the power, impact and value of the Wabash will be evident.
-
RONN MOTT: Mushrooms = Hoosier happiness
Someone wrote or said a few years ago a statement that would define the word “Hoosier.” According to this urban legend, a Hoosier is somebody dribbling a basketball around the Indy 500 while eating a fried, morel mushroom. It did not define me, at the time.
-
RONN MOTT: Israel’s Air Force
Recently the Israeli Air Force bombed and rocketed a convoy leaving Syria going to Lebanon with rockets that were going to be used to attack Israel. It did not get there. It was destroyed.
-
RONN MOTT: Media merry-go-round
Round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows. That isn’t a unique phrase to this writer or to this era in time. But, when it comes to the musical chairs of broadcasting, it certainly applies.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: Courts see a different appearance than cops
Have you ever noticed the transformation between the arrest of an accused lawbreaker and the first appearance in court?
-
MARK BENNETT: Life at face value: Mom’s simple advice still presents a valuable daily challenge
Most moms don’t base their advice on scientific research.
(Unless, of course, your mother is a scientific researcher. If so, carry a No. 2 pencil and take good notes.) -
SUSAN DUNCAN: Advice to the kids on Mother’s Day
Just so you know, now settled firmly into middle age, I think of “kids” as anyone in their 30s and younger. I also accept that many of my elders view me as an upstart whippersnapper, though snapping even my fingers nowadays can be a chore.
-
FLASHPOINT: Again in 2013 General Assembly, middle class generally ignored
Last year, the people of Indiana entrusted the Republican Party with some of their most precious possessions.
-
RONN MOTT: ‘Raccoons II’
In the Algonquin Indian language, raccoon means “working with hands.” They are really cute little fellows until they injure a child, or a pet, or leave feces around where you certainly do not want it.
-
RONN MOTT: ‘NRA Convention’
At the recent NRA Convention in Houston, Texas, where the right-wing political hot air almost lifted the convention's building off its foundation, the NRA trotted out the forever yours political dame of the right wing, Sarah Palin. Sarah did not disappoint.
-
RONN MOTT: ‘Heritage gone’
The last high school I attended was being torn down just a few days ago. I didn't learn about it until I saw classmate Dick Mills on television and a display he had put together about State football championships in the middle 1930's. I began elementary school with Dick Mills. That was Matthew South Elementary School on South Sixth Street in Clinton, Indiana. After seeing Dick on TV, it dawned on me that all schools I had attended in Clinton have been torn down.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: We always want more than we need
Washington seems more preoccupied with the unemployment rate than they are about the constant stalemate. Still with thousands out of work and the unemployment rate hovering somewhere between 7 percent and 9 percent, it does deserve more than a passing nod.
-
MARK BENNETT: Should I stay or should I go?
Some have their Bill Clinton-era Cavalier packed (with the trunk bungee-ed shut), apartment cleaned (except for the fridge), and iPhone GPS locked onto the fastest route out of Terre Haute. Others are staying — until they find a better job, or because they’re starting a career here, or because this town feels like home. In each case, a new stage of life begins today.
-
College Class of '13 gets a little extra advice
Local college grads will hear commencement speakers offer life and career advice this month. We’re offering them an extra dose here from folks who’ve found success in various vocations and regions of the nation. Many have Terre Haute roots.
-
RONN MOTT: Things that go bump in the night
I live in a very old house. There are all kinds of noises that occur, especially at night, or so it seems. Aside from the various creaks and pops from old wooden floors and walls when the furnace heats up and sends warm air into the rooms, we, my wife and I, have heard other noises.
-
RONN MOTT: Around the dial
At lunch the other day with Terry Tevlin (First Financial Bank), I bumped into Dale Mahurin. I hadn’t talked to Dale in a long time and inquired about his wife, Julie Henricks.
Julie has returned to the radio microphone doing a weekend gig on Mix FM. For fans of Julie’s show on WTWO-TV, don’t worry, she’s not leaving … just multi-tasking. Welcome back to the radio airwaves, Julie! -
ANDREA NEAL: Newspaper journalists still make a difference
A recent survey ranked newspaper reporter as the worst career of 2013, just below meter reader and lumberjack, but you wouldn’t guess it from the stories told by journalists who gathered in Bloomington to see six of their own inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.
-
RONN MOTT: George Jones
I got to Nashville in the early ’70s, hired by John Patton, who had been a DJ for WBOW earlier in his career. Then, he was managing WMAK in Nashville and I was promised a top sales list and received the yellow pages (many a promise like this has happened to people in this business). I also did sports commentary for the morning man and would ultimately do a season of play-by-play and a short TV schedule for Tennessee State.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: Old age is in email of the beholder
My Best Friend isn’t much for writing letters, so email has opened a new world for him. He can dash off a few words to a high school friend or his college roommate — now living in Florida and Washington State,
-
MARK BENNETT: Spirited response to a rising river
The power within the Wabash revealed itself last week.
-
FLASHPOINT: Time has arrived for overhaul of TV news
Former FCC Chairman Alfred Sikes gave an address in 1992 in which he claimed television news was too superficial and too focused on visuals.
-
RONN MOTT: Remembering Pat Summerall
I don’t remember how I first became aware of Pat Summerall, but the first time I heard him was on a New York radio station (WCBS, I think). He was doing the sports for the morning man and exchanging some opinions about sports and such with him.
-
RONN MOTT: What I don’t know
I was watching a segment on the History Channel the other night while I waited for the end of “The Big Bang Theory” and a show I had seen before. It was “Sex in History.” And the two segments I watched were about Ben Franklin and Howard Hughes.
-
RONN MOTT: You, me, and the Muslim world
I don’t know how to do this. I’m a fairly intelligent human being, but the events of the past week in Boston have turned me emotionally inside out. It’s more than the people who died, it’s more than the people who were injured … some permanently,
-
LIZ CIANCONE: A memory test from the oldtime radio days
For some reason, I seem to be the go-to source for all sorts of obscure information out at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center.
-
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
-
RONN MOTT: China
The recent blustering by North Korea and their weaponry, which now includes ICBMs, has pulled into full attention America’s involvement with China.
-
RONN MOTT: The country is not the NRA
It’s the United States of America, not the United States of the National Rifle Association. But hey, if that’s your poison, maybe it will change.
-
RONN MOTT: Observations of spring
I turned on the TV last week, got focused on a wrestling match and a basketball game broke out. My goodness, what a rough game with bodies strewn all over the floor. If you were going to contest a shot, you would have to hit him hard, and the rules must have changed because I didn’t recognize any of the foul calls.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: Friskey no doubt was in favor of gun control
I once owned a gun. Actually, it was Dad’s gun and I was allowed to use it. He bought an air gun which shot BB’s to protect our home — in a way.
- More Opinion Columns Headlines
-
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Raw: Tornadoes Spotted in Kansas
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Obama Exhorts Good Deeds by Morehouse Graduates
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Music Therapy Bonds Parents and Preemies
Winning Powerball Ticket Sold in Florida
Raw: Texas Gov. Flies Over Tornado Damage
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
Raw: Gun Scare Mars Cannes Film Festival
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Today in History for May 19th
Raw: Germany Protestors Picket Barbie House
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
One Million Evacuated As Cyclone Hits Bangladesh
Twiggy, the Water Skiing Squirrel
Sailor Surprises His Mom At Her CU Denver Graduation Ceremony
Official: ‘Amazing’ No One Was Killed In CT Train Crash
Coffee Stop Leads To Arrest Of YouTube Sensation Wanted For Murder
Bearded Dragon Reunited With Owner
Marine Reunited with Warzone Companion
Beyonce Is Pregnant!
SF baseball player overpaid $500,000 RETURNS money -- and team says KEEP IT
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
Dad returns from Afghanistan, surprises family during Rays' first pitch
See Jennifer Lopez's New $10m Hamptons Mansion
Woman tricked into taking abortion pill
Emma Watson Goes Pantless
IRS scandal: Republicans seek to tie Obama to agency's woes
Play of the Day: Flipping to Safety
Pregnant Kim Kardashian Squeezes Her Swollen Feet Into Stilettos
Top Videos of the Week: Angry Taco Bell Guy, Glacier Moves on House, Dog Hates Baths
