906 Residents should expect to dial 10 digits

Callers in four Michigan area codes, including the  9–0–6, will soon be required to dial all ten digits of a phone number.

Michigan residents in the 6–16, 8–1–0, and 9–8–9 area codes will also be affected.

The changes will be rolled out on April 24th. Callers will be required to use 10–digit dialing beginning October 24.

The change is necessary to prepare for a new three digit suicide prevention lifeline that’s set for activation next year.

Any needed reprogramming of alarm and home security equipment must be done during the permissive dialing period from April 24, 2021 to October 24, 2021 to avoid interruption of services, officials say.

Other examples of services that may need to be re-programmed are:

  • life safety systems or medical monitoring devices
  • PBXs
  • fax machines
  • Internet dial-up numbers
  • fire or burglar alarm and security systems or gates
  • speed dialers
  • mobile or other wireless phone contact lists
  • call forwarding settings, and
  • voicemail services and other similar functions.

Be sure to check your website, personal and business stationery, advertising materials, personal and business checks, contact information, personal or pet ID tags and other such items to ensure the area code is included.

The following will remain the same:

  • Your telephone number, including current area code, will not change.
  • The price of a call, coverage area, or other rates and services will not change.
  • What is a local call now will remain a local call regardless of the number of digits dialed.
  • You will continue to dial 1 plus the area code and the telephone number for all long-distance calls.
  • You will continue to dial a prefix such as 9 when dialing from a multi-line telephone system (in a hotel or office building, for example) as required.
  • You can still dial just three digits to reach 711 for relay services and 911 for emergency services.
  • If 211, 311, 411, 511, 611 or 811 are currently available in your community, you may still dial these codes with just three digits.
  • The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can still be reached by dialing 1-800-273-TALK (8255) even after the 988 code is in effect.

Visit t North American Numbering Plan Administrator   website, or email NANPA at 988@somos.com with questions about the dialing procedure change. Or visit the FCC’s website.