EL PASO, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – Starting Sunday, phone users in parts of Texas and all of New Mexico will be required to dial the area code for all calls, including local calls that previously only required seven digits. According to the North American numbering plan administrator, the mandate for 10-digit voting is growing in importance in a number of states, affecting 82 area codes across the country, including El Paso and Las Cruces (NANPA).
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.
Area code 915, which covers El Paso and Hudspeth counties, is affected by the change, as is 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.
“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.
Summary of the news:
- The cities of El Paso and Las Cruces now require a 10-digit dial
- Check out all the news and articles on the latest security updates.
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