Nevada phone customers within 702 area code must dial area code for local calls
A new dialing procedure for telephone customers within the existing Southern Nevada 702 area code becomes mandatory in less than a month.
Starting May 3, 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.
The 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, PBXs, fax machines, Internet dial-up numbers, alarm and security systems, gates, speed dialers, voicemail and other phone settings.
In addition, business customers were advised to check stationery or advertising materials during this period to ensure the area code is included.
The North American Numbering Plan Administrator, the organization that administers area code use, petitioned the PUCN on behalf of the Nevada telecommunications industry to implement an overlay of a second area code in the existing 702 area code. According to NANPA, 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 homepage of the PUCN’s website at HYPERLINK "http://www.puc.nv.gov" puc.nv.gov or HYPERLINK "http://www.dial10digits.org" www.dial10digits.org and HYPERLINK "http://www.marca10digitos.org" www.marca10digitos.org