A recent notification from the FCC indicates that Alaskans will have to dial a full 10-digit phone number, including the area code when calling friends or neighbors. The mandate from the FCC starts in October and it requires that, regardless of service provider, Alaskans will need to dial 907 before the seven-digit phone numbers, even when making a phone call. Beginning on April 24th, phone calls can be made using full 10-digit numbers. The change takes effect officially on October 24th where all customers in the Alaska 907 area code will have to dial the 10-digit local dialing.
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska says the FCC change is because the commission approved the designation of 988 as the 3-digit abbreviated dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, requiring all telecommunications carriers, interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol providers, and one-way VoIP provider to make any network changes necessary to ensure that users can dial 988 to reach the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The reason this order applies to Alaska is because all covered providers are now required to make 10-digit dialing mandatory for all local calls in the entire Alaska 907 area code because 988 is assigned to customers as a working prefix.
The FCC ordered that any are code that has the 988 prefix assigned as regular telephone numbers and has 7-digit local dialing be transitioned to 10-digit local dialing to prevent problems with reaching the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by using the 3-digit 988 area code. KSRM has received word from the Regulatory Commission of Alaska that there are at least 30 states, including Alaska, that use the prefix 988 within their boundaries.
The reasons for changing to 10-digit local dialing is to avoid the need to change people’s telephone numbers. The FCC reports that dialing 7-digits for local calls will be prohibited for all customers in the entire area code. To complete local calls, the new dialing procedure requires callers to dial the area code and the telephone number. In addition to changing your dialing patterns, all services, automatic dialing equipment, or other types of equipment that are programmed to complete local calls using only 7-digit numbers will need to be reprogrammed to complete calls to 10-digit numbers. Some examples include:
- life safety systems or medical monitoring devices
- PBXs
- fax machines
- Internet dial-up numbers
- fire or burglar alarm and security systems or gates
- speed dialers
- mobile or other wireless phone contact lists
- call forwarding settings
- voicemail services and other similar functions
Be sure to check your website, personal and business stationery, advertising materials, personal and business checks, contact information, your personal or pet ID tags, and other such items to ensure the area code is included. What will remain the same?
- Your telephone number, including current area code, will not change
- The price of a call, coverage area, or other rates and services will not change due to the dialing change
- What is a local call now will remain a local call regardless of the number of digits dialed
- You will continue to dial 1+ the area code + telephone number for all long-distance calls
- Callers will still be expected to dial a prefix (such as “9”) when dialing from a multi-line telephone system (i.e., in a hotel, office building, etc.) as required
- You can still dial just three digits to reach 711 (relay services) and 911 (emergency services)
- If 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, or 811 are currently available in your community, dial these codes with just three digits
- The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can still be reached by dialing 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) even after the 988 code is in effect.