Once upon a time, the whole state of Nevada had a single area code: 702.
In December 1998, due to the explosive population growth in southern Nevada’s Clark County, the area code for the rest of Nevada changed to 775.
A dozen or so years later, 702 numbers were running out again. This was no big surprise: Increased consumer demand for cellular and PCS (personal communication services) phones, pagers, lines used for fax machines and modems, even landlines, especially in offices, resulted in a dwindling supply of available phone numbers.
According to NeuStar, the organization that oversees area codes, a Numbering Plan Area Code, or NPA Code, comprises 792 available three-number prefixes, each consisting of 10,000 four-number line designations. As more and more of the 792 prefixes are allocated, the NPA code "approaches exhaust."
NeuStar monitors the area-code situations and notifies state public-utilities commissions (along with the FCC and the telecommunications industry) three years in advance of when a particular NPA Code is anticipated to run out of prefixes. In the case of 702, NeuStar sent out the alert in November 2012, warning that the 702 area code would likely be exhausted sometime in the third quarter of 2014.
The various regulatory agencies and industry groups determined that the fix would take the form of an NPA code "overlay." This means that a second area code, in this case 725, is added to the existing area code. The main benefit of an overlay is that no telephone number with the existing area code, in this case 702, must be changed (as opposed, for example, to the 775 transition, in which all the phone numbers in the new area code had to be changed).
Telecommunications providers began preparing the network and the public for the changeover in February 2013. A nine-month transition period was launched on August 3, 2013, during which customers with 702 area codes calling other 702 customers could dial seven or ten digits.
However, starting Saturday (May 3), 10-digit dialing will be mandatory between 702 numbers.
A month later on June 3, 2014, the new area code will be effective, with 725 numbers assigned to new customers.
All emergency calls will remain the same, 911 or 411. And there will be no long-distance charges for calls between the 702 and 725 area codes.
All in all, this probably won’t inconvenience too many callers. With speed dial landlines and touch-screen cell phones, most phone users place calls with a tap or two. Callers who dial only seven digits will receive a recorded message instructing them to include the area code.
