B717 FLC ENCOUNTERS SIMILAR CALL DIFFICULTIES WITH ANOTHER INTER ISLAND ACR WHEN ENRTE TO PKOA THROUGH ZHN AIRSPACE.

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THIS RPT IS TO POINT OUT CONTINUING PROBS IN THE INTER-ISLAND FLT STRUCTURE RESULTING FROM ACR X AND ACR Y USING SIMILAR (AND THE SAME) FLT NUMBERS ON CONCURRENTLY SCHEDULED FLTS. WHY CAN'T WE CHANGE THIS PROC OR PRACTICE IN THE INTEREST OF FLT SAFETY? AT APPROX XA35; ATC (126.0) ADVISED ACFT X TO CONTACT ATC ON 119.3. ACFT Y RESPONDED TO THE CALL AND LEFT THE FREQ. I RESPONDED AS WELL AND 126.0 CONFIRMED THE CALL WAS TO ACFT X. WHEN I CHKED IN ON 119.3 WE WERE GIVEN DSCNT INSTRUCTIONS WHICH WERE AGAIN ANSWERED BY ACFT Y. I CAME UP ON THE FREQ AGAIN; ADVISING CTR THAT ANOTHER ACFT HAD RESPONDED TO MY CALL SIGN; AND AGAIN CONFIRMED THE ATC DIRECTIONS FOR ACFT X. ACFT Y SUBSEQUENTLY RESPONDED TO THEIR ATC CALL. ONCE ON APCH CTL; ACFT X WAS ISSUED A DSCNT TO 6000 FT. WHEN ACFT Y SHIFTED TO APCH; EVERY CALL THAT I MADE REQUESTING LOWER WAS ANSWERED BY APCH CTL TO ACFT Y WHO ACCEPTED THE CLRNCS BELIEVING THEY WERE FOR HIM. MY REPEATED EFFORTS TO CONTACT APCH WERE ROUTINELY BLOCKED; AND WE ENDED UP STILL AT 6000 FT WITHIN 10 NM OF THE ARPT. APCH CTL FINALLY GAVE UP ON HANDLING 2 FREQS AND ADVISED EVERYONE TO COME UP ON 118.3 (HE WAS CTLING ANOTHER SECTOR; I GUESS; AND EVERYONE WAS BEING 'STEPPED ON' OR 'BLOCKED'). I JUMPED IN FIRST; GOT VISUAL VIA THE CHANNEL APCH TO RWY 8L; WHICH BY THIS TIME WAS A SLAM-DUNK APCH. FORTUNATELY; THE FO AND I WERE ON THE SAME PAGE. HE HAD SLOWED EARLIER WHEN I WAS TRYING TO ESTABLISH COMS FOR LOWER; SO WE WERE ABLE TO SAFELY CONFIGURE AND LAND WITHOUT INCIDENT -- THIS TIME! AS WE TURNED FINAL; TWR WAS GIVING ACFT Y TKOF CLRNC. FORTUNATELY; OUR FLT ARRIVED EARLY FROM ONA; OR WE WOULD HAVE HAD ACFT Z; ACFT Y; AND ACFT XX ALL ON THE SAME FREQ! I THINK SOMETHING SHOULD BE DONE TO AVOID THESE SIMILAR CALL SIGNS TO PREVENT ONE OF US FROM FLYING THE WRONG CLRNC INTO DISASTER.