Central Iowa’s new 6-4-1 area code was born less than two weeks ago and it’s still experiencing growing pains. Allan Wells, chief operating officer of Iowa Telecom, says problems have cropped up as people try to make calls between towns including Creston, Lenox and Mount Ayr. Wells blames the multitude of long-distance carriers. He says all of the carriers haven’t reprogrammed all the switches.Wells says the area code is still in its infancy and a number of quirks need to be ironed out before it becomes routine to accept all calls within the 6-4-1 zone.Wells says employees at Iowa Telecom, formerly G-T-E, are able to help customers out, but they need to know there’s a problem first. Customers in the new area code, which was carved off of the 5-1-5 zone, can now accept calls with either 6-4-1 or 5-1-5. Come December, only the new area code will apply.
