Ten digits will be a handful

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Your dialing fingers aren't the only thing that will be working overtime when 10-digit dialing is rolled out across Manitoba in 2012: Across the province, businesses are looking forward to a rush of requests to fix everything from alarm systems to business posters.

On Wednesday, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission confirmed that a new area code, 431, will be added to Manitoba in late 2012. The new code means the province's increasingly old-school seven-digit dialing norm will be scrapped by Oct. 20 that year.

It'll be a hectic year, especially for businesses. But thanks to lessons learned from other provinces, it shouldn't be a burden.

Switches haven't always been smooth. In 2001, when Vancouver's Lower Mainland changed to 10-digit dialing, the process was "like a miniature version of Y2K" when it came to hasty software programming, Paladin Security chief operating officer Leo Knight told the Calgary Herald in 2008.

But a long lead time and plenty of precedent means Manitoba's 10-digit rollout is likely to be smooth. "We're not the guinea pig, at least," chuckled Jess Guberman, vice-president of Winnipeg-based telecom firm Telexperts. "We can look at past experience, we can certainly talk with manufacturers and vendors in different markets and find out exactly the problems (transition to 10-digit dialing) created."

The good news: In recent years, at least, there haven't been too many problems. In Alberta, where telecom companies banded together to help get the word out about the change in 2008, a survey of more than a million calls during a transitional practice phase found that 90 per cent of calls were using all the digits, said Telus Alberta spokesman Chris Gerritsen.

"It was very successful," Gerritsen said. "You'd be surprised -- people can adapt."

MTS is aiming for similar success in Manitoba. Before 10-digit dialing becomes mandatory, a similar practice phase will be launched between late July and Oct. 20, 2012. During this phase, callers dialing a seven-digit number will be greeted by a brief voice message reminding them to dial 10 digits the next time around, said MTS Allstream spokesman Greg Burch.

More strategies to make the transition seamless will be unveiled during the next two years, he said, noting that "there's no question the experience of others" will benefit the process. "This is an example of growth in the activity of the province, and the demand for new services," he said. "Those are encouraging signs for Manitoba."

Still, a hectic 2012 is on the horizon. Many businesses' phone systems now recognize seven digits as a complete dial. Those will have to be reprogrammed. At Telexperts, Guberman said he plans to start talking to clients about the switch during the next year. But this is human nature we're talking about; a last-minute crush is in the cards. Individually, reprogramming phone systems isn't necessarily a big job. Some newer systems can be reprogrammed remotely and for others, the service calls could take under an hour, Guberman said.

But Telexperts manages more than 3,000 phone systems in Manitoba, and telecommunications programming is not a sector that can easily train, license and deploy a temporary workforce to handle the load.

"Typically (with big changes), most people wait to the last minute. We anticipate some of that again," Guberman said, noting that his company could seek out some retired phone technicians to handle the rush. "Hopefully, people will be accommodating and allow for after-hours or overtime (scheduling). Fortunately, it's revenue, so it's nice work for us... it's probably going to make a bigger impact on our clients. Most companies are going to incur some kind of cost."

And not just because of their phone systems. Everything from business cards to advertisements and vehicle graphics may have to be reprinted. Radio jingles and phone-number slogans will have to be rewritten. Fax machines and security alarms will have to be reprogrammed to dial 10-digit numbers. "When you're talking thousands and thousands of clients in this (alarm-system) industry, the costs are going to be astronomical," said Wes Schilke, who owns City Alarm.

Some of the cost will be charged to consumers as service fees, he says, but companies will still take a hit. "We've certainly been thinking about it. Just a mail-out program to notify (customers) will cost the average alarm company thousands," Schilke said. "But the impact that is more important is to what could happen to people's security if you can't get it done in time."

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Be prepared

It's never too early to start planning for your new phone number. There will be a lot of things to change during the transition period, which launches on July 29, 2012. If you're a business, that's just so much more to account for in that year's budget. Here, a checklist to consider:

Rewrite: Business cards, stationery, advertisements and brochures are just a few of the things that may have to be reprinted to reflect 10-digit dialing. Don't wait till it's too late -- printing companies will be facing a big crunch in mid-2012 as businesses rush to get the job done. To save money, think carefully when stocking up on items like flyers or posters; you don't want to get too much of anything that doesn't have an area code.

Reprogram: Speed-dial numbers, call-forwarding functions, fax machines, alarm systems, auto-dialing machines, databases and pretty much anything else that dials numbers automatically will have to be changed. Residents can do much of this themselves; businesses will want to get in touch with their telecom provider to start planning.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 30, 2010 A7