New Mexico to switch to 10-digit dialing
Mar. 24—Here's a tough message for impatient and jittery telephone button-pushers and dialers: New Mexico soon will switch to a 10-digit dialing system.
That order has come down from the Federal Communications Commission, so you can't blame the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, which announced the upcoming change Tuesday — or, really, anyone else in New Mexico.
"I think it's going to be a challenge for folks to get used to that requirement," said Public Regulation Commissioner Joseph Maestas of Santa Fe.
New Mexico is far from alone. The FCC said Tuesday that besides New Mexico's two area codes — 505 and 575 — 80 other area codes, from Alaska to Hawaii and Washington to Georgia, will be affected.
It's for a worthy cause. The FCC has established 988 as a nationwide, three-digit phone number for people in mental crises to connect to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Dialing 988 will route calls to the suicide hotline beginning July 16. The suicide line will still be available at 800-273-TALK, even after the 988 service goes into effect.
To make sure critical calls reach the organization, parts of the country will move to 10-digit dialing, the FCC said, so that calls to seven-digit phone numbers that start with 988 won't have the potential to gum up calls to the suicide prevention line.
Public Regulation Commissioner Theresa Becenti-Aguilar, who represents northwestern New Mexico, said the demand for the hotline is great, especially during the pandemic.
"Some people are going to the extreme, and I believe this will be helpful," she said.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said suicide is the 10th leading cause of death nationwide. As of 2019, New Mexico had the fourth-highest suicide rate in the nation, the CDC said.
There will be an adjustment period for the 10-digit requirement. It will go into effect April 24, but phone calls using seven digits will be allowed until Oct. 24, when use of the 10-digit phone numbers will become mandatory.
Telephone utility prices won't change, nor will phone numbers. But automatic dialing systems and other services programmed for seven digits will have to be reprogrammed. Those can include medical monitoring devices, internet dial-ups, security systems and mobile phone contact lists.
Verizon spokeswoman Heidi Flato said her company will send out customer notifications and news releases about the change.
"We don't really have to do anything other than inform our customers about the requirement," Flato said.
Maestas said it was his understanding that there will be no recorded warning of the transition between April 24 and Oct. 24. That makes getting the word out even more important, he said.
A few people contacted Tuesday said they didn't have strong feelings about the change other than to say it's good if it assists the suicide hotline.
Joanne Hudson, a spokeswoman for Tourism Santa Fe, the city's convention and visitors bureau, said: "I think it'll definitely be a change and something to get used to, for sure." But using 10 digits to make a call is a small inconvenience "if it makes it easier for those in crises to get connected to help," she said.
Joseph Herrera, who is in the oil and gas industry in the Artesia area, said he wanted people to get the help they need. "I guess if it makes it easier for someone to do something like that [call the hotline], I don't have an issue with it," he said.
