Enhanced 988 national suicide prevention lifeline

As per the current guideline, a user trying to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and Veterans Crisis Line must dial the standard 10-digit number 1-800-273-8255.

On July 16, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules to establish 988 as the new nationwide easy-to-remember 3-digit phone number for Americans in crisis to connect with suicide prevention and mental health crisis counselors.

Although 988 is not a nationwide calling code right now, Webex Calling can transform dialing 988 to 1-800-273-8255 by helping you connect to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline quickly.

As of July 16, 2022, dialing 988 routes calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and Veterans Crisis Line. In making 3-digit access to a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline a reality, the FCC designated 988 as the 3-digit number to reach the Lifeline, and requires all telecommunications carriers, interconnected VoIP providers, and one-way VoIP providers (together, covered providers) to make any network change necessary to ensure that users can dial 988 to reach the Lifeline by July 16, 2022. These rules ease access to suicide prevention and crisis intervention services, decreasing the stigma surrounding suicide and mental health crises, and ultimately saving lives.

Webex Calling behavior for 988

• Cisco doesn’t classify 988 as an emergency call, and it is classified as a toll-free call.
• Users in the United States (US) can’t be assigned an extension number such as 988. If you already have a user with 988 as an extension, Webex Calling continues to route the call to the extension instead of the suicide hotline.
• Other dialing patterns such as +1988, 1988 are not supported.
• Outbound Dial Digit +988 is supported.
• The calls are not routed to RedSky, the national emergency provider for handling emergency calls.
• No additional or special headers added to the SIP INVITE for this call.

Calling 988

• When a user dials 988, Webex Calling translates to the 1800 toll-free number, and then the call is sent out.
• For all 988 calls, the Call Detail Record (CDR) shows the called number as 1-800-273-8255.