For Riverside County Dial 1
Updated 3:00 PM PDT, Thu, Jan 7, 2010
Life was so simple in the 213 days. Not anymore.
Eastern Riverside County residents will be required to dial 1 and the area code when making phone calls beginning Saturday, even for calls to someone just across the street. The new 442 area code overlay will be taking effect in the 760 area code region.
Those who already have 760 area code numbers will keep them, but new numbers in the area will get the 442 code beginning Nov. 21. Despite the need to dial a 1, phone calls will not increase in price.
The California Public Utilities Commission originally wanted to split the 760 area code, but some businesses and residents preferred having both the 760 and 442 area codes to prevent them from being forced to change their phone numbers.
The 760/442 area codes will cover nearly one-third of California, according to the CPUC, from the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of Inyo and Mono counties through Death Valley National Park and the Mojave Desert to the Nevada and Arizona state lines, parts of Riverside, San Bernardino and Imperial counties and northern San Diego County.
If residents do not dial a 1 plus the area code, their call will not be completed and a recording will instruct them to hang up and dial again, according to the CPUC.
Residents should also check burglar alarms, modems and gated community entrances, which sometimes work on dial-up networks. Speed-dial numbers on cell phones and land lines will also need to be changed to the full number, according to Keep760.org.
A new area code was needed in the region because population growth and the proliferation of wireless phones has nearly exhausted numbers in the 760 area code.
First Published: Oct 23, 2009 4:37 PM PDT
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