Hillsborough Sun

Town of Francestown issued the following announcement on September 2.

Effective October 24, 2021: MANDATORY 10-digit local dialing is required for all customers in the New Hampshire 603 Area Code.

1. Why is the local dialing plan changing?  On July 16, 2020, the FCC adopted an Order (FCC 20-100) approving 988 as the 3-digit abbreviated dialing code to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, starting July 16, 2022. Customers must continue to dial 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to reach the Lifeline until July 16, 2022. The Order requires all telecommunications carriers, interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers, and one-way VoIP providers (covered providers) to make any network changes necessary to ensure that users can dial 988 to reach the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by July 16, 2022.

·For 988 to work in the New Hampshire 603 area code, 10-digit local dialing must first be implemented. Implementation of this Order requires all covered providers to make 10-digit dialing mandatory for all local calls in the entire New Hampshire 603 area code.

2. Why is 10-digit dialing going to be required in this area code? The FCC ordered that any area code that has the 988 prefix and has 7-digit local dialing be transitioned to 10-digit local dialing to ensure everyone is able to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline using the 3-digit 988 code.

3. Will everyone in the 603 area code have to dial 10 digits for local calls?  Yes. Every customer with a number from the 603 area code will change to mandatory 10-digit dialing for local calls. Dialing 7 digits for local calls will be prohibited for all customers in the entire area code.

 4.  What will be the new dialing procedure? To complete local calls, the new dialing procedure requires callers to dial the area code + telephone number. This means that all local calls in the entire 603 area code that are currently dialed with 7 digits will need to be dialed using the area code + telephone number.