TELEPHONE lines look likely to be tangled with callers facing delays and false engaged tones because few people are using the '2' prefix which becomes compulsory from June 1 From midnight on May 31, all calls without the 2 will be connected to a message telling callers to redial using eight digits, ending the dual access period that started on January 1, the official '2' day.
Network operations director William Cheung Kam-hung said yesterday two-thirds of people were still not using the 2.
'When they have to, they will. Many people recognise they can call both the numbers [with or without the 2] and they are a bit lazy,' he said.
But if everyone forgets, increasing the number of calls in the busy daytime by two-thirds from six million an hour to 10 million could lead to call queuing, he said.
'People could experience a bit of delay in getting the dial tone, or accessing a certain area they could get a busy tone,' he said.
If some exchanges were particularly busy, the computer-controlled system could route calls through alternative exchanges, he said.