Interesting comments on this subject from many perspectives.
Most of the reasons for and against some type of change is inevitable. As time passes so do many of the objections, once you stand back and look at where we are today.
Having different area codes, or having cellular specific blocks of numbers for cellular carriers worked fine until someone complained about not being able to have number portability. A good reason for change.
Having to dial extra digits (personally we probably call the same numbers again and again - friends and family) so we have them saved in our contacts on our mobile phone, or on the speed dial on our personal telephone (Western Electric Desk Sets excluded - LOL), so I don't understand the problem being so big. In fact telephone books (yes, I saw some the other day - they're still being printed) seems a total waste (stop killing trees) when we find numbers in milliseconds from the browser on our smart phone. If you run a business, I hope your not living in the dark ages of the 1980's.
As an example, I think you would be hard pressed to find any individual under the age of 35 that has ever had a wired telephone. Why would they? They don't live in the world we grew up in. They have a number for their cell phone/smart phone and changing the number no matter where they live (or wherever they are at this moment) would be difficult because now they could lose contact with anyone who didn't get their new number. My son (now 35) lives and works in San Francisco and has one cellular number (from back when there were really separate cellular number blocks assigned to different carriers) since day one for him, and yes it's an 805 area code. No reason to ever change it now.
I'm 68 and I've not had a wired personal phone in 15 years. My businesses have not had wired phones for 13 years (or silly FAX machines). I have number portability and even can have numbers in different area codes that ring on my main (805) number, even from London or wherever my VoIP carrier has assignments. Yes, the prefixes can be confusing, if you really recognize where they were traditionally from. My main business number is actually from Ventura County, but the main number rings in San Luis Obispo or anywhere I'd like it to ring including my mobile phone while in Germany at Ham Radio Freidrichschafen.
I think the whole point is if you put the past behind you, soon you won't even care. I haven't thought about area codes needing to be dialed in ages, I just always do since it's usually from my mobile phone anyway and dialing a 1 and the area code before the number works every time, and all contacts are saved this way. Yes, I still see an area code on an incoming call and think it might be from such and such a place (I don't have any leased PacBell / Western Electric Desk Phones - kids would ask what are they?), but a 805 area code on a call from Wyoming just isn't unusual anymore. Even the retired couple now living in Boise wants their friends in Santa Barbara to be able to find them! It seems if someone hasn't already made the change (to a permanent portable number) they have only been putting off the inevitable. I liken this to someone that has been running the original Microsoft Office programs and hasn't been moving to each subsequent upgrade. When they finally do, the learning curve is huge, because they didn't do the 4 or 5 smaller steps in between. OK Ms is a terrible example, but you get the idea... Embrace change.
Heck even our Call Signs are portable now! Do I occasionally miss knowing where the station is when our country is so big? Of course! On the other hand it is the way it is now. A quick search on QRZ from my computer or smart phone tells me in an instant. Often a lot more, like "I'll be operating from CY9C from August 19th-29th", so I'm not home now. Don't call!
73 Dave WI6R