Phoenix districts to receive 2 new area codes today

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat New Phoenix Regional Area Codes

Dialers calling into the Phoenix metropolitan area will need to use two new area codes - 480 and 623 - for select regions within the valley.

Starting Sept. 1, callers will hear a recorded message telling them the new area code numbers and forcing them to "hang up and try your call again."

Phoenix will continue to use area code 602. The east valley, including Scottsdale, Tempe and Mesa, will switch to 480. The western region, with Glendale and Peoria, will begin using area code 623.

"It will cause some inconvenience of course, like most changes do, but it will be for the benefit of all," said journalism freshman Whitney Love. "The people of the city of Phoenix should be excited their city is growing to need another area code."

The decision to add new area codes was made in Dec. 1998 by the Arizona Corporation Commission, the state utility regulator.

Phoenix's metropolitan area phone companies were expected to run out of numbers by the end of the summer, said Perry Baker, Arizona Corporation Commission's spokesman.

The valley's population growth, along with the addition of faxes, pagers, wireless phones and computers caused an overload, he said.

Baker said he predicts Tucson, which used to be part of 602, might need a second area code in about eight or nine years. Tucson switched to 520 in 1995.

"As Tucson grows I can see the day it will have its own area code," he said.

Phoenix's 602 area code and Tucson's 520 number each allow for about 7 million phone numbers, said Jim Roof, a U.S. West telephone company spokesman.

The commission considered implementing an "overlay" plan that would keep 602 as the Phoenix valley area code, but assign all new phone numbers a new code, Baker said.

But the "overlay" idea could have forced residents into having two different area codes within the same house, he said.

"A lot of valley and the valley civic leaders complained about that," Baker said.

Some people have also complained about the geographic split, he said.

"I suspect, one year from now, no one will complain or think anything of using the area codes," Baker said. "Phoenix has been lucky that it hasn't had to go through an area code change yet."

Systems engineering junior Steve Kang, a Los Angeles resident, said he is accustomed to dialing multiple area codes.

"People remember the change," Kang said. "If they don't, they dial the old area code and find out it's not in service."

Undeclared freshman Chandra Melton said the new Phoenix area codes may be bothersome.

"You'll have to look for their area code and memorize it," Melton said.