Ameritech is still scrambling to reach an accord with Schaumburg and Elk Grove Village over just how many local phone numbers will have to be changed when the new area code plan goes into effect next year.
And telephone company officials acknowledge that this is going to be an issue it will have to contend with in a number of other suburbs that straddle the service borders currently being created for the new area code plan.
Seven-digit number changes emerged recently as an issue after Schaumburg officials went to court to stop what it said were Ameritech’s plans to split that village into two area codes.
“We’re still meeting with them to try to settle this out of court. We’re looking at every possible option,” said Lisa Kim, Ameritech spokeswoman.
At the core of the dispute is the suburban municipalities’ desire to have their communities keep a single area code under the new plan. Ameritech said it’s trying to comply with that request, but in order to do that, in many areas it will mean some customers will have to change their phone numbers.
“We do have some technical limitations with our switching equipment,” Kim said. “We’re working very hard to limit the number of seven-digit changes.”
Originally, Ameritech was looking at requiring some 30,000 customers in the Schaumburg-Elk Grove Village area to change numbers as well as area codes when the new plan takes effect in January.
Elk Grove Village President Dennis J. Gallitano said his village supported Schaumburg’s complaints against Ameritech.
“We got together with Schaumburg to try to resolve the area code split and the change of numbers,” Gallitano said.
Gallitano said meetings held last week between the villages and Ameritech made it clear that some consumers will have to change their numbers. The goal now, he said, is to try to reduce that number so as to cause as little disruption to residents as possible.
The possibility of number changes was something the Illinois Commerce Commission noted in its order issued in April approving the municipalities’ call for a geographical split in assigning new area codes.
The report reads: “The new area code (847) for the north and northwest suburbs will be introduced on Jan. 20, 1996. The majority of customers will only have their area code changed and will be allowed to keep their current seven-digit number. If seven-digit number changes are required, Ameritech will notify impacted customers.”
Schaumburg officials have said they don’t want any residents to have to change their numbers, but telephone company officials said technical limitations won’t allow that. The company also notes that similar changes in numbers were necessary in 1989 when the switch was made from 312 to 708.
Just what communities will be affected by the issue of changing seven-digit numbers along with area codes is not set. The local suburban municipalities have been working with Ameritech to draw up the final geographic splits, said Rita Athas, executive director of the Northwest Municipal Conference. Athas said she expects the issue to be resolved fairly quickly. It has to be, she said, noting that Ameritech has said it is rapidly running out of numbers in the 708 market.
“This is an issue all the border communities are going to have to work individually with Ameritech to resolve,” Kim said.
The new area code plan calls for dividing the current 708 suburban market into three area codes: 708, 847 and 630, with the 847 code being the first to be deployed.
