Minnesota adds an eighth area code with 924 coming to the southern part of the state

You'll soon have something new to punch into your phone. Minnesotans dialing into the southern part of the state are going to have to start using the 924 area code.

It goes into effect in a month, but Public Utilities Commission chair Katie Seiben tells WCCO's Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News that the new code can be used right now.

"People who have a 507 area code, they'll keep that telephone number," Seiben says. "If you go to get a new phone number, 924 will start being activated a month from now."

While this is a new area code, 924 is being overlaid onto lines that have the 507 area code.  The addition is necessary because of population growth and the increasing number of cell phones.

Seiben said they didn't want to disrupt people who already have cell phones with a 507 area code.

"We decided to roll out the new 924 area code on top of the existing 507 so that existing customers could keep their current telephone number," Seiban explains.

For those keeping score at home, this will make eight area codes in Minnesota. That's almost twice as many than in the late 20th century. Minnesota was given two area codes in 1947 when 612 and 218 were added. Those have been overlaid several times over. 507 was added in southern Minnesota in 1954.

Area codes exploded in the 1990s when cell phones began to explode across the country. Minnesota added the metro area codes 763 and 952 by 2000, and now the 507 is running out of space.

People calling numbers in southern Minnesota must start using the ten digits on Tuesday.