Puget Sound Gets New Set Of Area Codes 253 And 425 Phone Codes Will Take Effect Early Sunday

New area codes for much of the Puget Sound area become mandatory Sunday morning, one minute after midnight.

More than one million telephone lines will have new three-figure area codes, more than double the number affected when the 360 area code was added two years ago.

Customers will need to be certain their home and work computers are properly set up to dial numbers inside the new codes. They’ll also need to make sure their cell phones are properly programmed.

Cellular telephone officials say up to 30 percent of their customers still haven’t reprogrammed their phones to reflect the new codes.

Officials with telephone companies and Internet servers expect to be deluged with calls Monday from customers who have forgotten to prepare and will be caught short. Without the proper programming and other preparations, their cellular phones won’t work.

The new codes were unveiled last spring after telephone company officials announced that the existing Western Washington area codes - 206 and 360 - were running out of possible phone number combinations. That was because of greater use of existing lines for personal computers, fax machines, pagers and cellular telephones.

The new codes were established in late April, but consumers were given a seven-month grace period so they could learn to dial the new codes.

Starting Sunday, they are mandatory.

The new 425 area code covers most of the suburbs east of Seattle and the Everett area, including Everett, Lynnwood, Bothell, Bellevue, Carnation, Issaquah, Redmond, Fall City, North Bend, Renton and Maple Valley.

The new 253 area code covers most of southern King County and western Pierce County, including Tacoma, Des Moines, Kent, Auburn, Sumner, Puyallup, Graham, Roy, and Lakebay in south Puget Sound.