Members of the New York State Public Service Commission are going ahead with the overlay option to add another telephone area code over the entire existing 315 area.

But the commission said in a meeting today that they might yet postpone implementation of the plan.

If a report due in October indicates that the 315 numbers will not be exhausted as quickly as predicted, commissioners agreed that they could put that plan on hold for the time being.

In the meantime the commission felt it had to begin now in case the exhaustion prediction is correct.

Several times in the last 16 years, the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA), the organization managing area codes in the U.S., has warned that available telephone numbers in the 315 area were running out. They issued that warning in 1999, 2007, and 2013. But after the first two warnings, the rate of consumption of available numbers did not match the prediction, so the PSC took no action.

State Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, whose district includes parts of St. Lawrence County and much of the 315 area, has said he is not convinced that action needs to be taken now, and asked the PSC to delay its action today.

Referring to Griffo, one commissioner said that "while he has been right twice before" in making similar predictions, the consensus of the commission today was that if anything is to be done it has to be approved and planned soon or when the time comes, "failing to act now might force the federal government to act unilaterally," with NANPA making a decision and implementing their own plan, one commissioner said.

But there was also agreement among the commissioners that if a further commission report on the matter, due in October, concludes that NANPA's prediction of "exhaustion" of numbers in the first quarter of 2017 is premature, they will consider putting the plan on hold once again.

NANPA has said that 18 months is needed to set up whatever plan is adopted, which at this point would take them to early 2017, when NANPA predicts the 315 numbers exhaustion.

The 315 area code region includes nearly all St. Lawrence County except the southeastern corner, and all or nearly all of Cayuga, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga (Syracuse), Oswego, and Wayne counties, as well as parts of Chenango, Cortland, Fulton, Hamilton, Ontario, Otsego, Seneca, and Yates counties.

Two possible solutions to the shortage of numbers in the 315 area have been discussed.

One solution is to set up a new geographic area from part of the current 18-county 315 area and assign it a new area code for all their numbers, leaving the rest of the 315 area with the same numbers. The disadvantage to that scheme is that everyone in the new area will have at least a new area code and maybe a new telephone number to deal with.

The other solution, the one adopted by the commission today, simply assigns another area code to the existing 315 area, and all new numbers will be under that area code. The disadvantage to that is that everyone in the existing 315 area will have to dial the entire 10-digit number for even local calls, whether they have the 315 area code or the new one.

Department of Public Service staff recommended the overlay option because they believe it is easier to implement, less expensive, easier for customers to adapt to, and fairer to all customers. In addition, the overlay permits all existing telephone users in the region to keep their entire current phone numbers, including the 315 area code.

Nearly all new area codes created in the United States over the past few years have been implemented via an overlay.

Sen. Pattie Ritchie, R-Heuvelton, whose district also includes part of St. Lawrence County and other portions of the 315 area, has encouraged her constituents to let the PSC know in time for today's meeting how they feel about the plans.

The commissioners noted that they had held 20 hearings on the matter and had received more than 400 comments submitted in writing.