Idaho’s next area code, in addition to 208, will be 986. That news follows the Idaho Public Utilities Commission’s unanimous decision today to implement the new area code as a “geographic overlay,” meaning that it’ll go to new numbers statewide, starting in late 2017, but existing numbers will keep 208. When the new code comes in, everyone will have to dial 10 digits for in-state calls.

The PUC rejected an alternative proposal to do a geographic split, which would have given the new code to half the state, letting the other half keep 208, and kept seven-digit calling within each of the two zones.

“Neither option is ideal,” the commission said in its order. But commissioners concluded that the overlay approach would cause less disruption and expense. “An all-services overlay will cause everyone in the state to equally incur the annoyance of ten-digit dialing,” the commissioners wrote. “Beyond this inconvenience, an overlay will not cause a disruption to current phone numbers. The inconvenience caused by ten-digit dialing will be mitigated by education efforts, a permissive dialing period, and the use of automatic dialing through cellular and other digital devices.”

Idaho was assigned the 208 area code in 1947; it’s one of just 12 states that still has just one statewide, and half those states have a second code under consideration. Idaho is projected to run out of 208 numbers by the first quarter of 2018.

Industry comments from telecommunications providers and PUC staff recommendations were unanimous in favoring the geographic overlay; the 41 public comments the PUC received were divided with 66 percent favoring a geographic split, and 29 percent for the overlay. Most said they wanted to stick with seven-digit dialing. But PUC officials said seven-digit dialing is on the way out anyway, due to changing technology. The FCC has recommended the overlay approach as a “best practice,” and that’s the way most states have gone in recent years when they’ve added new codes.

West Virginia was the last state to try a geographic split; it reversed that decision in 2008, saying it posed too much of an economic burden. Idaho’s move will be phased in over 16 months, with a permissive period of either seven- or 10-digit dialing starting around the end of 2016 and running for nine months. Mandatory seven-digit dialing would kick in for the fourth quarter of 2017.

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