Date: Fri 01-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

area-code-203-860-SNET-phones

Full Text:

CONNECTICUT GETS A NEW AREA CODE

B Y B RIGITTE G REENBERG

A SSOCIATED P RESS

NEW HAVEN (AP) - After months of chitchat about a new area code for a large

portion of the state, Connecticut residents are soon going to start dialing

those three little numbers. And for some companies, the change could be a big

headache.

On Monday, the new code 860 was introduced in six counties: Middlesex, New

London, Windham, Tolland, Hartford and Litchfield.

New Haven and Fairfield counties, with the exception of the town of Sherman,

will keep the old 203 area code.

People will have quite a while to get used to punching in the new numbers,

though. During a 13-month transition period, calls will still get through to

the 860 area using 203. But after have October 4, 1996, the new code will be

mandatory.

"We encourage people to get into the habit right from the start," said Myra

Simmons, spokeswoman for the Southern New England Telecommunications Corp.,

the state's largest telephone service provider.

The change was prompted by a growing demand for pagers, fax machines, computer

modems and cellular telephones, which have exhausted almost every possible

combination of phone numbers in the 203 area code.

In that way, technology-hungry Connecticut residents fit with a nationwide

trend. Millions of phone customers in at least 14 states have or will have new

area codes this year for similar reasons.

The biggest effects likely will be felt by businesses. SNET is urging

companies to reset their automatic dialers, fax machines, computer modems and

cellular phones to reflect the change right away.

Businesses also will be forced to change stationary, business cards, signs,

phone numbers on company cars and other advertising. And companies also must

start letting their customers, vendors and business associates know about the

change.

For Sedgwick Office Supplies & Printers of West Hartford, the new area code

isn't an inconvenience, but a boon. Since July, the company has been

encouraging customers to order new letterhead, business cards and signs.

The change has meant a 25 percent increase in business, said Mark Chellgren,

company vice president. The office supply business has been informing its

customers through direct mail notices, telephone calls and regular, daily

contact.

"We're more or less creating the awareness, letting them know about the change

and that they have a certain amount of time to jump on board," Mr Chellgren

said. "I had a customer the other day who didn't even know it was happening."

Mr Chellgren told him and then took his order.

But for Frank Amodio, the change will be "quite an ordeal." He heads two

Hartford companies, Amodio Worldwide Moving & Storage and Amodio Archives

Records Management.

His commercial and residential moving company has customers as far away as

Poland and Russia, and the new code will mean scrapping an overstock of

brochures, business cards and letterhead that bear the old area code. Mr

Amodio estimates $10,000 in reprinting costs.

"The burden on a company that does business throughout the country and

throughout the world is bigger than if you have strictly a local customer

base," he said.

To inform the company's large commercial customers, which typically are

companies with mobile work forces, Mr Amodio is developing a form letter for a

mass mailing. Each letter will include new address cards.

Amodio also is tied into a network of more than 800 moving agents throughout

the country who must be informed.

The records management business caters to more than 600 clients throughout the

state, storing their records and data on a mainframe computer. Each client is

connected to the data with personal computers linked to Amodio's mainframe

over telephone lines.

"All the modems have to be changed, all the automatic dialing features," Mr

Amodio said. "We will have the technicians in the data processing department

go in and change them as early as we can."

He estimated the project would cost about $15,000.

The switch could pose other problems. Companies outside the 860 area code that

have old switchboards _ called private branch exchanges, or PBXs - may be

unable to ring up people who have the new code.

For example, after getting a new area code, some companies in Washington state

complained that they lost out-of-state customers. Those customers must

re-program their own switchboard systems, upgrade the software that runs their

phones or purchase new systems altogether to reach people in the new area

code.

Connecticut companies affected by the change can test their phone systems for

compatibility by calling a phone number that SNET has set up: 1-860-203-0950.

If the phone system is suitable, the caller will reach a recording that says

the test call was successful. Otherwise, the company should contact its PBX

provider or vendor to make changes or have the equipment upgraded, SNET

officials said.