On October 24th, a local phone call will require dialing 10 digits. The change is the result of the 988 National Suicide Prevention Hotline three-digit call that begins next summer. 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.
In April, the 10 digit dialing became active and the 10-digit numbers will be required on October 24th. 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.
On October 24th, 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.
