NEW ORLEANS — Callers won't be able to leave out 504 when dialing out anymore — after Oct. 24.
The North American Number Planning Administrator is making the change to make 988 the dialing code for the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline, according to a plan released by the administration in January.
The change was approved by the Federal Communications Commission in 2020. It requires service providers to make all changes necessary to ensure that users can call 988 if they need help, by July 16, 2022.
Dialing 988 will connect callers to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1.800.273.8255 / 1.800.273.TALK.
The FCC order requires any area code that includes phone numbers that begin with a 988 to switch to 10-digit dialing.
Across 36 states, those 82 area codes that will have to switch to 10-digit dialing are:
- Alaska 907
- Alabama 251
- Arkansas 501
- Arizona 480, 520, 928
- California 209, 530, 562, 626, 650, 707, 925, 949, 951
- Colorado 719, 970
- Delaware 302
- Florida 321 (Brevard County only), 352, 561, 941
- Georgia 478, 912
- Guam 671
- Hawaii 808
- Illinois 309, 618, 708
- Indiana 219, 574
- Iowa 319, 515
- Kansas 620, 785
- Kentucky 859
- Louisiana 337, 504
- Michigan 616, 810, 906, 989
- Minnesota 218, 952
- Mississippi 662
- Missouri 314, 417, 660, 816
- Montana 406
- Nevada 775
- New Hampshire 603
- New Jersey 856, 908
- New Mexico 505, 575
- New York 516, 607, 716, 845, 914
- North Carolina 910
- Ohio 440, 513
- South Dakota 605
- Tennessee 731, 865
- Texas 254, 361, 409, 806, 830, 915, 940
- Vermont 802
- Virginia 276, 804
- Washington 509
- Wisconsin 262, 414, 608, 920
Following instructions from the FCC, the North American Number Planning Administrator put in place a multi-step transition plan to help callers and their service providers transition to 10-digit dialing.
Beginning in July of 2020, the plan called for networks to inform customers about upcoming changes, as the service providers made internal adjustments.
After 12:01 a.m. — local time — April 24, callers could begin dialing with 10 digits. This began a six-month transition period.
That transition period ends at 12:01 a.m. Oct. 24. After that, an 8.5-month mandatory 10-digit dialing begins, but enforcing it is left to carriers' schedules.
Carriers must begin enforcing 10-digit dialing before July 15, 2022. After that, any caller dialing 988 will be connected to the hotline.
WWLTV has reached out to Cox to see when cut-off date will be for folks who have phone numbers beginning with 504 and 337.