10 Digit Dialing

Residents of Northeastern Pennsylvania will see a huge change coming their way. Starting on September 21, residents in the area need to dial 10 digits in order to reach someone locally. Most people see 10 digit dialing as a hassle, but the concept exists in isolated areas around the United States. Unfortunately, the region is running out of available telephone numbers, and such a change is more than necessary. Not everyone is happy about such changes.

How does this change affect individuals? 

For individuals, the need to dial 10 digits locally is just annoying. The area's normal area code is 570, but a 272 area code is being overlayed in the area. Even next door neighbors will need to dial all 10 numbers to reach each other. Plus, residents need to know which area code the other person falls under. The trouble of this system speaks for itself, and residents must get used to this change.

Luckily, the average person won't have much trouble changing over their numbers in their smartphones and telephone books. Most of the people they know are using the 570 area code, and only new customers are affected by the 272 addition. The common consensus is that dialing 10 numbers for a local call is simply a hassle. Either way, residents have no say in the matter and need to change their dialing habits thanks to this change.

How does the situation affect local businesses? 

However, things are much more complicated for businesses. Most businesses don't keep record of their customers' area code since it's usually 570. The systematic change means that each business must meticulously enter in the area codes for their customers and clients. In reality, such a modification can take weeks or even months. Even larger companies are affected by this change with no easy solution available. A company that doesn't switch its records quickly will run into trouble.

Also, companies that print their phone numbers on promotional items and business cards face a major issue. All of these items that lack the proper area code need to be reprinted or remade. Doing so can cost a lot of money, depending upon the volume of items. For that reason, plenty of companies are disgruntled about the change. The local government has been reminding residents for quite some time now, though.

A Timetable for the Overlay

Currently, most companies are predicting a timetable of a few months to fully adjust to the changes. The change itself will take affect on September 21. Not all companies are finished updating their phone systems and records, though. Even the police department is still working hard to ensure that very few problems arise from the change. For now, a few months seems like a decent estimate.

Knowledge is power when it comes to changes like this, though. Therefore, the more people that know about the overlay, the more successful the switch will be. If few people know about the modification, then the timetable can increase to many more months. At least for now it seems like local companies are doing their job to inform customers and clients alike of the area code overlay.

Without a doubt, plenty of other problems will arise due to 10 digit dialing. More areas around the country are going to face such issues in the future. A finite amount of unique numbers exist in a given area. Of course, this means that numbers start to run low, and regions must respond to such changes. 10 digit dialing is a simple solution that causes plenty of ramifications that people need to adapt to quickly.

Government Cant Afford Fax Machines

The government cant afford fax machines. They cut off around 85 billion off of the federal budget. Most offices in the government are running but a fax machine is something that may cost too much for the government to fix.

About two weeks ago a facsimile machine at the Defense Department headquarters stopped working. Requests that were faxed to the Office of the Secretary of Defense were undeliverable. This machine is handling FOIA requests but is not working and may stay that way for about another month or more. Journalist Shawn Musgrave asked the Pentagon when they think the machine might start working and the Defense Department said that if a replacement is not available right now it will have to wait until the new fiscal year.

After talking to Aaron Graves of the OSD, Musgrave said that is bears repeating that the office that oversees the military is not able to project when one fax machine will be operational again.

The military though is budgeted to spend more than one trillion dollars in FY2012. It is also in progress with the F-35 fighter jet program which is the most expensive weapons system that has ever been ordered.

This isn't to say that the fax machine problem is the only issue at hand. A study that was released by Goldman Sachs seems to think that you could see as many as 100,000 federal jobs gone because of budget cuts that will happen during the next year. Many agencies in the federal government have thought of strategies to adjust to the sequestration this year, but these are only temporary. They did employee furloughs and also deferral of maintenance and training. They put into practice these ideas hoping that the sequestration would be reversed. If it doesn't get reversed the federal agencies will have to think of a more permanent adjustment which could mean a loss of jobs.

As of right now, concerning the fax machine, journalists will most likely have to send their FOIA requests by mail or send an online request. If that doesn't work though maybe someone will tell the Pentagon to go to Best Buy. They have a nice fax machine for around 150.

So as you can see, the government has a lot going on by way of having the budget cut down. It has made it more difficult for them to even afford a fax machine.