PORTSMOUTH — To avoid potential confusion with a new suicide hotline number, Granite Staters will have to start using the 603 area code for all their telephone calls. That will change on Oct. 25 in New Hampshire. Why? The new National Suicide Prevention Lifeline will be 988. And 988 is an exchange in Portsmouth. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last summer designated 988 as the national three-digit number for people in crisis of potentially harming and killing themselves. At issue is the fact that residents and businesses in Portsmouth have telephone numbers beginning with 988, according to the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission. 988 is the new National Suicide Prevention Lifeline