The 988 National Suicide Prevention Hotline three-digit call will begin in July of 2022, but the preparation for that hotline has already begun. The FCC announced last year, area codes across the nation that had a prefix of 988 would have to adopt 10-digit dialing. That impacts 83 area codes in 37 states. In Missouri, the area codes affected include 314, 417, 660, and 816.
On April 24th, the 10 digit dialing became active and callers in those area codes are encouraged to begin dialing the 10-digit numbers immediately. This means for local dialing in Chillicothe, you would dial, for example… 660-646-4173. You would not need to dial a 1 before the number unless you are dialing long distance. Now until October 24th, if you forget to dial the 10 digit number and only dial 7-digits, your call will still be connected.
On October 24th, the 10-Digit dialing becomes mandatory. If you only dial 7-digits, a recording will inform you that your call cannot be completed as dialed.
If your phone has saved numbers for quick dialing, you will want to make sure to update the numbers to include the area code before the October 24th deadline.
