Within the Tufts network, students may still only have to dial "7" plus a four-digit extension to reach out and touch someone, but to connect to everywhere else in Eastern Massachusetts, even lazy undergraduates must now dial ten digits - the area code plus the local number.
The change comes in the wake of an explosive increase in demand for telephone numbers, and will be accompanied by four new area codes, in addition to the region's four existing codes.
These new area codes will be "overlaid" on the existing group starting May 1, according to the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy (DTE). The current codes, 508, 617, 781, and 978, each will have another area code added to denote a specific region, allowing for any telephone number in those respective regions to have one of two three-digit prefixes. No existing numbers will change, and only new ones will adopt a new prefix. Western Massachusetts, which has a 413 area code, will remain unchanged.
Yesterday marked the broad switchover from seven to ten-digit dialing, but Tufts students have had time to adjust to dialing ten-digit numbers to call off campus. When students returned to school after winter break, they had to dial areas codes to reach any Medford or Somerville numbers. That decision was made out of convenience, according to Gil Matos, the Campus Link account manager for Tufts.
"It was easier to implement it while you guys were on break than when you were here, in case anything went wrong," he said.
The new area code added to Medford's existing 781 code is 339, and 857 will be the new area code laid over Somerville's 617 code.
Given that Tufts' campus lies in both Medford and Somerville, students will have to wade between all four areas codes to connect to friends and business in the surrounding areas. Nick's House of Pizza, for example, a popular take-out restaurant among students, is in Medford, while Urban Gourmet is located in Somerville.
Despite the additional area codes, there will be no change in long distance rates. "Anything that was local before is still local," Matos said.
The measure was necessary because of the increased demand for phone numbers created by a proliferation of fax machines, beepers, cell phones, and computer modems. "In the past four years alone, the demand for numbers has in certain area codes more than tripled because of unprecedented demand. In addition, companies that offer service in competition with Verizon are also using numbers to serve their customers," a DTE release said.
Mandatory ten-digit dialing is necessary because of the overlaying of area codes. This method of dealing with increasing demand for numbers was chosen over splitting regions because of the likely confusion and even larger disturbance that alternative would create.
"With a split, half of Eastern Massachusetts would have to change their phone numbers," said Paul Vasington, a commissioner for the Department of Telecommunications and Energy in an interview with The Boston Globe. "Massachusetts has already been through two geographic splits... I think people remember how painful it was."
Area codes were split three years ago when Verizon, then Bell Atlantic, added 781 and 978 to the 617 and 508 area codes.
"The inconvenience is part of the price to pay for having all the telecommunications devices that people now take for granted," Vasington said.
