A new dialing procedure for telephone customers within the existing Southern Nevada 702 area code becomes mandatory on Saturday. Customers must dial 10 digits – the area code plus the telephone number – for all local calls. Callers who dial seven digits will receive a recorded message instructing them to dial 10 digits. This will include a second area code (725) for Southern Nevada beginning June 3.
Local numbers will go through by merely dialing the 10 digit number. Long distance calls will require a 1 to be dialed before the ten digit number.
Of course, the confusion to local customers is knowing when a number is a local or long distance call, especially in the instance of dialing a cell phone number. In that case, Moapa Valley Telephone officials are encouraging customers to dial the ten digit number (without the 1) first to see if it will go through. This is because if a local call is made with a 1 before the number, the call goes through, but it will be routed as a long distance call.
Instead, customers are encouraged to dial the ten digit code first if they are unsure of whether it is long distance or not. If they receive a message stating they must dial a 1 before the number, then they can redial.
All of these changes are part of a plan to meet growing consumer demand. In 2012, the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada approved a second area code in the same geographic region as the existing 702 area code in Southern Nevada. The additional area code is 725.
When the new 725 area code becomes effective and numbers are assigned to new customers on June 3, calls to 911 or 411 will not change and there is no change to the cost of those calls. If a call is currently local, it will remain local and if it is long distance, it will remain long distance. Existing customers will retain their current area code and telephone numbers.
Since last August, a transition period has allowed callers to dial either seven digits or start to dial 10 digits for all calls. Besides giving Clark County residents an opportunity to become accustomed to the new dialing procedure before a second area code takes effect, the transition period was intended to allow customers to update services such as life safety systems, PBX’s, fax machines, Internet dial-up numbers, alarm and security systems, gates, speed dialers, voice mail and other phone settings.
The North American Numbering Plan Administrator, the organization that administers area code use says that available numbers in the 702 area code will be exhausted during the third quarter of 2014.
For questions about the second area code and dialing changes, consumers should contact their service providers. Information about the second area code is available on the home page of the PUCN’s web site at puc.nv.gov or www.dial10digits.org and www.marca10digitos.org.
