CAPE GIRARDEAU GETS NEW TELEPHONE PREFIX

Along with 651, 335, 334, 339 and 290, add 332 to the list of telephone number prefixes Cape Girardeau residents will be assigned.

The sixth prefix to be assigned Cape Girardeau since the numbers changed from ED5 to 335 in 1967 is an indication of advancing technology, said Southwestern Bell spokesman Tom Pagano.

"It's a sign of growth and expansion in telecommunication services," Pagano said. "We add prefixes in a community as a result of growth in business and residential services."

The diversity of telephone products, from fax machines, pagers and cellular phones to second residential lines, has forced the implementation of the new prefix. The prefix will open up 10,000 possible phone numbers.

"You can't use all those numbers though," Pagano said. "If a company is dependent upon issuing phone numbers, like a burglar alarm company, they would be entitled to their own prefix.

"A prefix is really a switch, a number on a switch."

Pagano said many telephone numbers are tied up in transition as residents move out of the area. A number is retired for a year when a resident moves.

This prefix, which went into effect this month, is the first new series of numbers for Cape Girardeau since 1991. That year the city got the 290 prefix.

With the growth in fax machines, cellular phones and pagers, chances are Cape Girardeau won't go another six years before seeing another prefix.

"Consumers in Southeast Missouri are very technologically savvy," Pagano said. "There are farmers who are using cellular lap-top computers for weather reports and futures trading while they're out in the field.

"There are a lot of reasons for an additional prefix in the community. It means people are using technology and moving forward into the new millennium."