The days of never dialing “603” on your phone are nearing their end, as 10-digital dialing gets its official start in New Hampshire next weekend (Sat. April 24), although it won’t become mandatory for another year and a half.
The end of a half-century era of calling within New Hampshire using just seven digits is the indirect result of the upcoming creation of 988 as a new national suicide hotline, replacing a toll-free 800 number. Like other three-digit emergency numbers, this will make it easier for people to reach out for help.
Before the number can go into effect, however, something has to be done about existing phone numbers that begin with 988 so that the switched network doesn’t get confused. That includes hundreds of phone numbers in Portsmouth.
What is being done is to require the area code even with local calls. This means every call made in New Hampshire will eventually require the area code plus three-digit exchange plus four-digit number.
As of April 24 you can dial in-state calls with either seven digits or 10 digits. In October 2022, however, 10-digit dialing will start to become mandatory; calls won’t go through without the area code.
Cell phones aren’t affected by this change for a variety of technical reasons.
The change is the latest in the history of telephone numbers, which date back to 1879 in Lowell, Mass., when a measles epidemic threatened to decimate the staff of the manual switchboard in town, forcing the creation of a system that could be used by less-trained operators.
Depending on the location, phone numbers had three, four or five digits until the 1930s when the seven-digit system was created, consisting of a three-digit prefix associated with a central office followed by four digits linked to a specific line. By the 1950s the first part of the prefix was associated with letters on the dial, so a Concord number like 225-1234 could be called CApital-5-1234. That practice ended by the 1970s.
Area codes were created in 1947 to allow interstate calling without operator assistance. New Hampshire’s 603 was one of the original 86 area codes; the fact that one area code covers the entire state is why we’ve been able to keep seven-digit dialing for so long.
Ten-digit dialing is also coming to Vermont, where the town of Troy has 988 as an exchange, but not Maine, because the Pine Tree State has never used 988 as a prefix.
Massachusetts has a mix of 7-digit and 10-digit dialing, depending on the area code, and none of them have to change.
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313 or dbrooks@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)
