[VoiceOps] Get ready for a weird dialplan change. 9-8-8 suicide hotline.

[Jay Hennigan]

On 7/18/20 19:51, Mark R Lindsey, ECG wrote:
> Fortunately, all we have to do is setup call forwarding for 988 calls to 
> go to +1-800-273-8255

That's by no means all we have to do.

Device dialplans in VoIP phones, ATAs, PBXs, etc, recognize N-1-1 as the 
only valid 3-digits-and-done dialplan. Now every such device will need 
9-8-8 as well. Much of the older gear is not user-programmable to 
accommodate such changes or manufacturer-discontinued.

988 is also a valid prefix in hundreds of NPAs, causing a conflict in 
areas with 7-digit dialing. It will be a hot mess.

And now that we have started down the slippery slope, you can expect 
poison control, ASPCA, stop smoking, gambling addiction, abducted 
children, AA, Planned Parenthood, etc. to all lobby for their own 
3-digit codes.

We have had 9-1-1 for decades and everyone knows it. There isn't a PSAP 
in the country that can't transfer a 9-1-1 call to a suicide hotline at 
the touch of a button.

-- 
Jay Hennigan - jay at west.net
Network Engineering - CCIE #7880
503 897-8550 - WB6RDV