Remember the 878 area code? Peek in a local telephone book and you'll find a customer guide that lists the code as serving Jeannette, Connellsville, Blairsville and other towns in Westmoreland, Fayette and Indiana counties. But do you know anyone with a 878 number• So, what's the 411? Three years ago, amid estimates that all the available numbers within the 724 and 412 area codes soon would be gobbled up, the state introduced 10-digit dialing for calls within the region to southwestern Pennsylvania residents and businesses. Starting in July 2001, those wanting to make a local call were required to peck the area code before dialing the seven-digit number. Telephone companies and the state Public Utility Commission justified the switch to 10-digit dialing by introducing a new area code, 878, that would serve as an "overlay" to the service spots covered by 724 and 412. The fear -- and prediction -- was that the numerical combinations offered by the two area codes would be exhausted in 2001 or 2002 because of the demand for second telephone lines, cell phones, faxes and pagers. This month, the third anniversary of the implementation of the 878 area code, the PUC and the North American Numbering Plan Administration, or NANPA, calculate between 1.94 million and 2.25 million of the 15.9 million numbers in the 724 and 412 codes have not yet been assigned. "We have a pretty good supply for a while," said Joe Cocke, a NANPA senior relief planner. So what happened• Those in the telecommunications industry credit conservation efforts and a stagnant economy for helping to delay the arrival of 878 numbers. The major conservation movement has been "number pooling," in which the PUC has reduced the block of numbers it dispenses to a telephone company. Previously, a company could receive all 10,000 number combinations within a prefix -- such as 836 in Greensburg -- regardless of whether it used every number. Just before the dawn of 10-digit dialing, the PUC began giving numbers in the 412 code at a clip of 1,000 at a time. The practice is now common for all codes in the state. "We asked for them back," said Cyndi Page, a public information specialist for PUC. "If you weren't using 10,000 numbers, give them back." Page said there is no estimate for when the 724 and 412 codes will be drained, though the two codes and their pending overlay are projected to meet customer demand until 2023. "Once one of those nears exhaustion, that's when they'll open up the 878 area code and assign numbers," she said. The 724 code appears to be the closest to extinction, though the projections from NANPA and PUC differ. NANPA estimates about 750,000 numbers remain available, while PUC has the figure at 570,000. The code is six and a half years old. Whenever the overlay eventually appears on your caller ID, you might not immediately recognize whether the buzz is from Mercer County or Allegheny County. It might even be your new neighbor, whose telephone company offers only an 878 code because the assigned 724 and 412 codes are taken. Nonetheless, existing numbers in the region would not be affected by the overlay. Page said the PUC has not made any recommendation to consider the creation of a technology-specific overlay, which could designate a code solely for devices such as cell phones and pagers. Officials in California and Connecticut have petitioned the Federal Communications Commission for TSO status, but no such codes have received final approval. Lee Gierczynski, a media relations manager for Verizon, the dominant telephone carrier in the region, said reprogramming for the overlay code was completed in 2001. No associated costs are lingering, though the company sank some funds into a campaign to educate its customers about 10-digit dialing. If demand for telecommunications increases, 878 will be waiting in the wings, Gierczynski said. "It's not like all of a sudden we're going to have a great consumption of numbers," he said. Likewise, the overlay didn't tinker with the programming at the 911 center for the Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety, said Dan Stevens, public information officer. The department has dealt with multiple codes for more than a decade, including programming to accept calls from the 814 code in northwestern Pennsylvania. "We're ready for whatever the phone company wants to dish on us," Stevens said.

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