METRO EAST, Ill. (KMOX/AP) - Most Missouri and many Illinois residents are being asked to begin dialing full 10-digit phone numbers starting on April 24 to get ready for a mandatory change that is coming in October.
Anyone with a Missouri area code (314, 417, 660, and 816) and Illinois residents in the entire 309 and 618 area codes should start dialing the area code + telephone number for all local calls in the 308 and 618 area codes. Citizens with a 708 area code should dial "1+area code+ telephone number" for local calls.
Officials are hoping that will help get everyone ready for October 24, when nearly everyone in Missouri and everyone in Illinois with 618, 309 or 708 area codes will be required to use 10-digit dialing (or 1+10-digit) when making local calls. The change will ensure all users can dial 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline starting in July 2022.
"All services, automatic dialing equipment or other types of equipment (life safety systems, fax machines, fire or burglar alarms, mobile contact lists, call forwarding, etc.) that are programmed to complete local calls using only 7-digit numbers will need to be reprogrammed to complete calls to 10-digit numbers," the Illinois Commerce Commission says.
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Customers who fail to dial all 10 digits for local calls will hear a recording telling them to hang up and re-dial.
All telecommunications providers in the United States are required to implement the three-digit 9-8-8 dialing code for the hotline by July 16, 2022. Under an order issued by the Federal Communications Commission, 10-digit dialing must be in place before then for any area code with a “988” prefix.
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