About 27 of 41 written comments the commission received favored the split option, but none of the comments addressed future trends that will eventually end seven-digit dialing. This option would have retained seven-digit dialing for calls within the same area code.
This option will ultimately require that all customers in Idaho dial 10 digits (area code, plus prefix, plus four-digit number) beginning in late 2017.Ī second option was to implement a “geographic split,” which would have assigned the new area code to all numbers in one-half the state, requiring all customers assigned the new code to change their telephone numbers.
The commission adopted the unanimous recommendation of Idaho’s telecommunications providers and commission staff that the state implement a “geographic overlay,” which assigns the new area code statewide to new numbers. Idaho is one of few states that still has one area code, “208” issued in 1947. The second area code will be issued only to new telephone numbers beginning in late 2017. An hour after the Idaho Public Utilities Commission issued its order approving the plan, the agency that contracts with the federal government to administer the nation’s area code numbering plan, Neustar, issued Idaho’s second area code: 986. State regulators today approved a 16-month plan for Idaho’s second area code to be implemented in late 2017. The hitch is we will all have to include the area code in all calls, even local. The Idaho Public Utilities Commission decided Monday to assign the new number to all NEW phone services…that way existing numbers will not change, regardless of location. After 68 years-that’s correct 68 years–with a single 208 area code, Idaho will have an additional telephone area code of 986.