New Zones for New York

You may have read May 27th blog post regarding a rate center consolidation plan in New York City. On August 15, 2009, more than 250 NPA-NXXs are moving from New York City Zone 2 to Zone 1, and Zone 2 will cease to exist. Three NPA-NXXs will move from Zone 3 to Zone 1 as well. The move will benefit customers in Manhattan who wish to port their phone numbers to a new carrier. Regulations allow landline phone numbers to be ported only within the same rate center. Manhattan’s three zones are currently three separate rate centers, meaning that customers may not be able to take their phone numbers with them if they move within Manhattan. Consolidating all Manhattan NPA-NXXs into a single rate center alleviates this problem.

The NPA-NXXs that move to a new rate center will be associated with new V&H Coordinates used to calculate distance. While many telecom services have moved away from mileage-sensitive rating over the years, if you’re on a mileage-based plan, you may see changes in your bill.

For example, if you have an NPA-NXX remaining in Zone 3, some calls to what formerly were other Zone 3 numbers will now be eight miles away (based on a mileage calculation to Zone 1) instead of zero miles. Conversely, if a call travels between Jersey City and NPA-NXXs formerly in New York City Zone 2, the distance changes from seven miles to four miles.

Will the New York City rate center consolidation cause you to make changes to what you bill and/or what you pay for services? We want to hear about it. Join the discussion here!