VoIP and Vonage to make Area Codes obsolete

From: WinBeta

Voice-over-IP vendor Vonage has for some time let subscribers pick the area code of their choosing. Now, it says customers can make local calls without having to dial an area code at all. Some think area codes could disappear all together.

Coupled with number portability for cell phones and the ability of VoIP subscribers to pick their area codes, the fundamental geographical reason for area codes is disappearing, according to one observer of the telecommunications business. “Five years down the road, the word 'area code' will be a misnomer,” said Kevin Mitchell of Infonetics in an interview Thursday.

After offering subscribers the option of choosing 179 area codes in 40 states, regardless of where subscribers are located, Vonage took another step Wednesday towards rendering area codes obsolete by offering to eliminate them entirely. “Many [subscribers] have been asking for seven-digit dialing to make it easier and quicker to dial local friends and family,” said Vonage chairman and CEO Jeffrey Citron in a statement.

http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20040708S0002