Two New Area Codes Planned Next Year In Puget Sound Area

Many telephone users in the Puget Sound area who escaped a change in their area code last year are not going to be so lucky this time around.

The 206 area code that covers Seattle, Tacoma and Everett and surrounding suburbs is being split into three area codes - 206, 253 and 425.

Last year, 360 was added, covering most of Washington west of the Cascades. The Seattle, Tacoma and Everett areas were excluded from that change.

Now, even the remaining 206 area has outgrown itself. Telephone officials said the growing use of fax machines, cellular telephones and computer modems makes the change necessary.

Tacoma, much of the rest of Pierce County and parts of south King County, including Federal Way, Auburn and Des Moines, will be in the 253 area code.

The 425 area code will cover King County east of Lake Washington and parts of Snohomish County that are now in 206.

The area for 206 is being shrunk to cover only Seattle, Mercer Island and Vashon Island, all in King County, and Bainbridge Island in Kitsap County.

The move was expected. Phone companies in the region had said the 206 area code would run out of numbers by 1998.

The new codes are set to take effect April 27, but dialing 206 will work until Nov. 16, 1997.

“It’s a time period for customers to get used to the new code, to notify their customers, clients, friends and relatives and to make sure the equipment is accepting the new code,” said U S West spokesman Harry Grandstrom. “It’s an opportunity to sort out all the bugs and get ready for the mandatory change.”

Local-call areas will remain unchanged, even when the calls are from one area code to another.

The plan is scheduled for presentation July 31 to the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission in Olympia.

By announcing the move so far in advance and allowing a seven-month grace period after that, phone company officials hope to avoid the kind of problems that arose last year after the 206 area code was carved in two - 360 for most of the state west of the crest of the Cascade Mountains and 206 for the Seattle-Tacoma-Everett area.

Until then, all area codes in the country had a 1 or a 0 as the middle digit. Some older switching equipment in private companies around the nation could not be programmed for the change.

Three companies in Vancouver, Wash., sued U S West over business losses from the change. The case has been certified by a federal judge in Tacoma as a class action on behalf of businesses generally within the 360 area code.