Rocky Gonzales has lots of tattoos, but there’s one that he’s particularly proud of. He pulled up his T-shirt to reveal “805” tattooed under his left nipple. Gonzales, a Santa Maria native, said he got the tattoo more than a decade ago, when he was “involved” in the street life.
At 36 years old, Gonzales has been incarcerated six times on various charges. On the inside, the area code was a way for others to indentify where they came from.
“It was who we surrounded ourselves with,” Gonzales said. “We’d be more comfortable because we were from the same area.”
But the area code is getting a makeover soon, and the brand image many associate with the Central Coast could change too. Starting Aug. 22, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will hold a series of public meetings in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties, beginning the process of introducing a new area code to the 805, which covers most of all three counties and some portions of Kern and Monterey counties.
As the population along the Central Coast grows, so does the need for telephone numbers and, eventually, a new area code, according to Joe Cocke, a Virginia-based area code relief planner for the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA)—the organization that plans numbers for the public telephone system in Canada, the U.S. and its territories, and some Caribbean countries.
As Cocke explains, an area code can handle only so many prefixes before it starts to run out of numbers. Basically, the prefix is the first three numbers of your phone number without the area code—like this: 347-XXXX. Mathematically, you get 1,000 number options, but only 800 of them are assignable because numbers like 911 and 211 are already designated.
The 805 area code had only 39 remaining prefixes left at the end of June, Cocke said, which is a little more than 95 percent full. According to the CPUC, the 805 is expected to use up all available prefixes by December 2018. A new area code will be added six months before that.
It’s not the first area code split in the region’s history. The 805 was created in 1957 when it split off from Los Angeles’ 213 area code. Then it split again in 1999 when the 661 area code was created to designate certain inland portions of the state, such as Bakersfield (which used to be 805) and even portions of Santa Barbara County.
The NANPA splits area codes through something called an overlay, where the same geographical region gets multiple area codes.
If you have an 805 area code now, chances are you’ll keep it. New customers, however, will most likely get a new area code, Cocke said.
When the overlay comes, the Federal Communications Commission will require all calls be made on a 10-digit basis, even if they’re local, which means you’ll have to dial the entire number just to call your next-door neighbor.
When making that call in California, however, Cocke said callers will have to add a 1 when dialing the number. But don’t worry; Cocke added that it won’t be counted as a long-distance call if it’s in the same area.
The reason behind using 10-digit dialing is to avoid a “discriminatory arrangement,” as Cocke called it. If the new area code customers were forced to make 10-digit dials whereas people with 805 were not, then that wouldn’t be fair, Cocke adds.
Another option besides an overlay would be a geographic split, where area codes are split between geographic lines, such as county lines. However, Cocke says this method is “old-fashioned” and an overlay is the preferred method among telecommunications companies and their customers.
The important thing to remember, Cocke adds, is that your phone service provider will not change.
But other than digits, how else will the area code change affect people’s attitudes of the Central Coast? The 805 area code is a point of pride for some.
“It’s my area, it’s where I grew up,” Gonzales said, even though the novelty of the 805 wore off for him a long time ago.
He can’t exactly say the same for others, though.
“It might affect other people; some who are involved and affiliated a little bit,” he said. “It might hurt their pride”
Then there are the Central Coast businesses that have made 805 their brand. There’s 805 Living magazine in Thousand Oaks and the 805 Blonde Ale made by Firestone Walker Brewing Company in Paso Robles. Could they change that aspect of their brand? Possibly. Will they? Firestone Walker Brewing co-founder Adam Firestone said he won’t let the new area code affect his brand.
“The 805 is not a telephone number, it’s a lifestyle,” Firestone told the Sun. “It’s really about a state of mind than any other thing. If they eliminate or change our area code, the 805’s still going to drive.”
For a list of public meetings on the area code change, visit cpuc.ca.gov/805areacode.
Staff Writer David Minsky can be reached at [email protected].
