In mid-month, I received my November telephone bill from our good friends at Bell Atlantic. The insert said that the new area codes would take final effect on January 1, 1998, though they could be used now. The date they had been quoting previously had been December 1, 1997. They also had a URL at the bottom of the article: http://www.nynex.com/areacode for more information (go ahead and try this...I dare you: click on this sucker).

Of course, the URL they provided was a "404-Not Found." Why did I expect otherwise?

Since I have info on the Concord Homepage about the changes and how they effect local callers, I thought it would be a good idea to get the straight poop from Bell Atlantic and update the site.

Am I an optimistic person, or what?

First, I dialed "0" and spoke the Bell Atlantic operator. She said the change date was December 1, 1997. I quoted January 1 from the bill insert and she was unmoved. She scolded me for worrying about this because I am already supposed to be using the new area codes anyway. I did not debate the fact with her that about 50% of the time I have they don't work and that I have already given up on using them.

So I called the customer service office. A very nice person admitted that she, too, found the new area codes didn't often work. And she informed me that the Department of Public Utilities had JUST determined that the change date would actually be FEBRUARY 1, 1998. (See why the postponment) WOW! Someone with some actual info! Paydirt!

She had no info on the correct URL, but said she would research it and get back to me. After taking my number, she determined I was calling from a business phone and said she would have to transfer me to the business office for that information.

Just think about this for a moment: the area code info is the same for ALL phone numbers....the URL is the same for ALL Web browsers. Wow! What creative buck-passing! I am in awe!

After a seemingly infinite wait, I was transferred to the business phone customer service office. The new person I spoke to still maintained that the change date was December 1, 1997. I quoted from my bill insert. "Oh, we don't have any of those here....the latest one we have is from October. We get copies of the inserts sometime after they go out to all the customers." H-E-L-L-O!?

I asked for a URL, giving her the incorrect one I already had on nynex.com. After another seemingly infinite wait, she got back on the line. "I am looking through my Lotus Notes and can't find anything. I just have one at bell-atl.com." She seems to not have noticed that "nynex" and "bell-atl.com" are not the same URL. Who was I to argue?

I checked http://www.bell-atl.com/areacode* and found (about 4 layers underneath that URL) that as of late November, they are still quoting December 1, 1997 as the change date. (note: this was eventually updated around December 1)

*Note: Bell Atlantic has changed this URL THREE TIMES since we wrote this. We simply can't keep up with them. Just go here and search their site for the info.

So, if you want to reach me, forget the phone. I suggest you use email instead.

Unless, of course, your ISP has a new area code....