10-DIGIT DIALING: SIGN OF OUR MODERN TIMES

"New area code for St. Louis means 10-digit dialing," read the headline on an Associated Press story this past week. "Making a call across the street will soon mean dialing 10 digits in St. Louis and Kansas City," read the first sentence.

The Missouri Public Service Commission approved new overlay area codes for our state's two large urban areas last month. An overlay code means that a single geographic region has two area codes Coming next year to St. Louis and probably in 2002 to Kansas City are overlay codes that will complement the 314 and 816 area codes already in use. This is the first time overlay codes will be used in Missouri. It is becoming common in large cities across the country. The Federal Communications Commission will assign the new codes.

Welcome to the new world of the exploding use of telephone lines. The increased use of fax machines and computers, each with dedicated lines, combined with digital and cell phones, means current area codes aren't sufficient to handle the exploding traffic in telecommunications. As the 314 and 816 area codes run short of numbers, telephone customers will be assigned numbers in the new codes. Customers adding a new phone line to a home or business could end up with numbers in different area codes.

One might long for simpler days, but that would be like asking for the tides to halt their ebb and flow. Continued growth in telecommunications seems inevitable, and with it, challenges such as this.