Old Massachusetts Area Codes Still Working

For those living within Massachusetts's two new local calling areas, with 781 and 978 area codes, yesterday should have been D-day--the day that calls made to their old 617 and 508 numbers would no longer go through as usual.

Since December 1, people calling the new areas using the old codes should have heard a message informing them of the impending changes, according to telephone service provider Bell Atlantic.

Starting yesterday, callers using the old 617 or 508 were scheduled to hear a message instructing them to use the new codes before their call was disconnected.

At least, it should have happened that way. As of 4:30 p.m. yesterday, no message was played and calls to the new areas were relayed as usual.

But starting May 1, callers using the old codes will simply hear that their call cannot be connected.

Some students said yesterday they worried that the absence of an informational message now could cause problems for them once the changes are final.

"Employers who want to reach me may not be able to get through once the final changes take place," said Clifford B. Rotenberg, a Harvard Business School (HBS) first-year. Rotenberg said that his number is still listed in the HBS directory as within area code 617 but is now only reachable using 781.

The general Harvard University Student Telephone Directory--which includes the College as well as HBS and other schools--already lists numbers within the 781 and 978 areas accurately.

Numbers on the University campus will not be affected by the change, although some parts of Cambridge fall into the new calling areas.

Bell Atlantic's web page advises people living within the affected regions--even those whose numbers are not changing--to add their area codes to things like check-books, business cards, stationery and advertising.

"When I first came here, I wasn't even able to buy stationary, because at the time they weren't sure whether they were going to change the area codes," Rotenberg said.

Andrew A. Gregory, a third-year student at Harvard Law School, said he is not overly concerned with the change in his number.

"I don't imagine [we will change anything], since we're going to be moving in four months," he said. "It's a little irritating, but nothing we can't handle."

The Bell Atlantic Website includes a checklist of other potential areas of concern--for instance, burglar alarms and business telephone systems that may not work without modification. The Website also lists devices that may need to be reprogrammed, such as modems, fax machines, pager notification on voice mail systems and speed-dialing lists.

The new area codes were added because the Boston area was running out of numbers in its current ones, due to an increasing demand for pagers, cellular phones, dial-up Internet connections and fax lines.

Bell Atlantic also points to new local telephone companies competing in the Boston area as a cause of the increasing demand.

Bell Atlantic's Website reminds customers that the area code change will have no effect on rates, noting that "A local call is still local.