NEW AREA CODE FAZES FEW It’s been more than a year since Southern Nevada has had to dial 10 digits
As the final days of seven-digit dialing in Clark County approached last summer, apprehension about the addition of a 725 area code grew.
The switch invoked pleas before the Nevada Public Utilities Commission, outbursts on Twitter, and conversations at the grocery store.
More than one year later, much of the nervousness has receded. Clark County residents have gotten accustomed to dialing 10 digits.
Bill West, who sells auto parts wholesale, said he purposely signed up for a waiting list for a 725 number for “something different,” but he hasn’t noticed much feedback from callers.
“A couple people didn’t know where 725 was from,” West said. “They were surprised when it was right here, like, “What, really?”
The Public Utilities Commission approved the second area code in November 2012, as the original 702 area code was nearly exhausted. In May 2014, callers who failed to dial all ten digits received a recording that instructed them to do so. A short time later, new residents to Southern Nevada began to receive the 725 area code that coexists alongside the traditional 702 area code in what is called an overlay. Since close neighbors might have different area codes, the move required all Clark County residents to dial 10 digits.
Fewer than 18,000 numbers with a 725 area code have been issued thus far, according to industry numbers. Roughly 44,000 telephone numbers with a 702 area code remain
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Maority of 725 codes aren’t assigned
unassigned, and depending on the service provider could be available upon request by customers. Cox Communications spokesman Juergen Barbusca said old 702 numbers are also recycled after being disconnected or taken out of service.
There are about 7.9 million numbers per area code.
John DiIorio, who runs a CrossFit gym in Henderson with a 725 area code, said customers haven’t mentioned anything to him about the number.
“I feel like nowadays with cellphones, and storing them, it doesn’t matter,” said DiIorio, who moved to Nevada four years ago from New York, where growing up he said he automatically dialed all ten digits. “First interaction, it’s saved. That’s kind of how we thought about (the 725 phone number).”
Jade Thomson said his landline 725 number mainly sits unused on his desk. With his work in construction, he spends 95 percent of his time on his cellphone.
“My family, I’ve called them a few times on it,” Thomson said. “They’re always freaked out by it.”
The 702 area code was one of the original 86 area codes created in 1947, according to Mark Hall-Patton, administrator of the Clark County Museum system.
In 1998, Northern Nevada took on the 775 area code. With the addition of 725 to 702, Southern Nevada won’t need another area code until 2042, according to projections from Neustar, the organization that oversees area codes across the country for the Federal Communications Commission.
Hall-Patton, who has a 702 number, said he had not received a phone call from a 725 number “as of yet. But I’m sure I will. That’s just a matter of time.”
He doesn’t put too much stock in the change, anyway.
“Now it’s just another number,” he said.
“I look in this place not in terms of its number but in terms of its history.” Contact Knowles Adkisson at kadkisson@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5529. Find him on Twitter: @knowlesadkisson.