Opinion

Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION

Get dialed in or pay price

By: Uncredited

Tuesday, Jul. 10, 2012 | Comments: 0

“One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingies.”

— A line made famous by comedian Lily Tomlin

It’s gonna take a bit more effort to enjoy all those “ringy-dingies” as Manitoba will soon convert to 10-digit dialing.

Now while this isn’t as hard to fathom as when we switched to metric — oh right, we still aren’t fully converted — it sure will pose some challenges to many folks until they get the hang of it.

Here’s the deal on key dates, as Manitoba officially reaches a critical mass that many other regions in North America have already reached:

• July 29: All local calls made within Manitoba will require 10 digits to be dialed — the area code followed by the seven-digit phone number. Local calls dialed with only seven digits will generally be intercepted by a network announcement before being connected. This recorded announcement may disrupt data transmission, and therefore it’s important to make the necessary changes in advance.

• Oct. 20: Ten-digit dialing will become mandatory. Businesses and consumers will have to dial the area code followed by the seven-digit number for all local calls. If the 10-digit number is not dialed, the caller will hear a message stating 10-digit dialing is required and the call will not be completed.

• Nov. 3: A new area code, 431, will be introduced and will be used in the same region as area code 204. Customers with the area code 204 will keep their numbers.

As you read in a Winnipeg Free Press story carried in Saturday’s Sun, for most of us, it will simply require a bit of a behavioural change — adding 204 or later, 431, to every call we make — but for some businesses, it has been akin to a mini-Y2K drop-dead reboot of their systems.

By all accounts, everything is under control. But it’s no laughing matter.

Businesses need to have their phone systems working properly.

It’s fine and dandy to get a bit upset down the road if you’ve forgotten to dial those extra digits. But just think what it could mean for a business that isn’t ready.

It’ll be a lot worse than counting distance in miles or weights in pounds.

For alarm companies, for example, not having the full number programmed could be a life-or-death matter.

Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition July 10, 2012

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“One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingies.”

— A line made famous by comedian Lily Tomlin

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“One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingies.”

— A line made famous by comedian Lily Tomlin

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