EL PASO, Texas – Starting Sunday, phone users in parts of Texas and all of New Mexico will be required to include the area code when dialing to make all calls, including local calls that previously only required seven digits.
The requirement for 10-digit eligibility is gaining ground in many states and affecting 82 area codes across the country, including the area codes for El Paso and Las Cruces, according to the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA).
Area code 915, which covers El Paso and Hudspeth counties, will be affected by the change, as will area code 575, which covers much of southern New Mexico – including Las Cruces and Alamogordo.
The change is made in the area codes where some phone numbers have 988 area codes. The Federal Communications Commission dialed 988 as a three-digit speed dial number last year to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline starting next July.
Beginning Sunday, “Calls dialed using only seven digits may not be able to complete and a recording may notify you that your call cannot be completed as dialed,” New Mexico officials said in a statement. These callers have to hang up and dial again with the area code and seven-digit telephone number.
“It is a minor inconvenience to reprogram the area code on our phones, but it will make a big difference if it saves a life and someone can call 988 when they have a mental crisis,” said Dr. David Scrase, Cabinet Secretary for the New Mexico Human Services Department and Acting Secretary for the New Mexico Department of Health.
Among the things that won’t change are customers’ phone numbers or area codes, phone prices or tariffs, and the need for some long distance calls to dial a “1” before the area code and phone number, NANPA said.
Comments are closed.