Area codes 416, 647, and 437
Area codes 416, 647, and 437 are telephone
The incumbent local exchange carrier in the numbering plan area is Bell Canada. Almost all Toronto Bell Canada landlines have area code 416, with 647-numbers allocated disproportionately to a growing mobile telephone market and to competitive local exchange carriers, such as cable and voice-over-IP services. Telephone numbers are portable, with few exceptions for specific services such as pocket pagers.
The competitive local exchange carriers in numbering plan area are Rogers Communications, Telus, and some independent companies.
Demand for telephone numbers with area code 416 for mobile,
History
Toronto's original manual telephone exchanges were recognized by an exchange name and a block of four-digit line numbers. The "GRover exchange" at Kingston Road and Main Street in
Area code 416 was one of the 86
Area code 416 has been split twice. The first came in 1953, when the western portion of 416 (including Kitchener) was combined with the southern portion of area code 613 to form
By the late 1980s, however, 416 was close to exhaustion because of the GTA's continued growth and Canada's inefficient number allocation system. Canada does not use
The GTA's rapid growth in telecommunication services, and the proliferation of cell phones, fax machines, and pagers, demanded more central offices, with another area code for the Golden Horseshoe soon becoming necessary. This resulted in a second split of 416 when, in October 1993, the area code's numbering plan area was reduced to its current size, consisting only of the municipalities constituting
With the amalgamation of Metropolitan Toronto into the "megacity" of Toronto in 1998, 416 became the only Canadian area code to serve just one rate centre and just one city. Many of Canada's larger cities, especially "megacities" that have been created from mergers of previously separate cities, are split between multiple rate centres that have never been amalgamated. Toronto is an exception and has been a single rate centre, which is by far Canada's largest, since 1977, with the merger of the historical Agincourt, Don Mills, Islington, New Toronto, Scarborough, West Hill, Weston, and Willowdale exchanges into the Toronto exchange.[5]
The 1993 split had been intended as a long-term solution for Canada's largest toll-free calling zone. Within five years, however, 416 was once again close to exhaustion. Toronto's size and status as a single rate centre have caused numbers to tend to be used up fairly quickly. Therefore, the number allocation problem was not nearly as serious as in other Canadian cities that are split between multiple rate centres. Splitting Toronto between two area codes, a solution adopted in the United States for cities like
On March 5, 2001, 416 was overlaid with area code 647, creating Canada's first overlay. The implementation of 647 made ten-digit dialling mandatory in Toronto. Within a decade, both 416 and 647 were close to exhaustion once again. A new overlay area code, 437, started operation on March 25, 2013.[6][7] That effectively allocates 24 million numbers to a city of 2.5 million people.
Area code 942 is scheduled for addition to the 416/647/437 overlay on April 26, 2025.[8] Area code 387 has been reserved for Toronto's future use.
Since the implementation of area code 647, overlays have become the preferred solution for exhaustion relief in Canada, as it does not require renumbering existing subscriber accounts. As of April 28, 2023, only three Canadian area codes (709, 807, and 867) are still single-code areas, without overlay, still allowing seven-digit dialing for local calls.
Future
A 2020 exhaust analysis by the NANPA projects exhaustion in 2025 for central office prefixes in the numbering plan area.[9]
Local calling area
Toronto is the centre of the largest local calling area in Canada, and one of the largest in North America. As of 2013, the following points in
In popular culture
In the Greater Toronto Area, the terms the 416 is also used to describe the area within Toronto proper, and Toronto residents are called 416ers. In recent years, Toronto has been increasingly referred to as "The 6". The suburbs are referred to as the 905 or the 905 belt, and suburbanites are called 905ers (in this use the term does not include the more distant parts of area code 905, such as Niagara Falls).
The 647 area code does not carry the same strong geographic associations as it disproportionately contains nomadic services (such as
On March 17, 1966,
In 1994, food delivery chain
Toronto rapper
Central office codes
All
Exchange names
Toronto's original manual telephone exchanges used exchange names, each serving a block of four-digit telephone numbers. The GRover exchange at Kingston Road and Main Street in
Toronto numbers that were converted from 2L-4N format, or from manual service, include:
- 416–363, 364, 366, 368 (EMpire 3,4,6,8) were ADelaide, ELgin, PLaza and WAverly in the Adelaide St (Queen West) area west of downtown. These were the first to be lengthened to 2L-5N in 1951–1953.
- 416-861 (UNiversity 1) was TRinity exchange in the Adelaide St (Queen West) area west of downtown (lengthened to 2L-5N in 1955).
- 416–921, 922, 923, 924 (WAlnut 1,2,3,4) were RAndolph, KIngsdale, MIdway and PRincess (lengthened to 2L-5N in 1954) in the Annex.
- 416–691, 694, 699 (OXford 1,4,9) were HOward, GRover, OXford (lengthened to 2L-5N in 1955) in East Toronto. These numbers usually relate to the Beaches and Upper Beaches neighbourhoods or to Crescent Town in East York.
- 416–461, 463, 465, 466 (HOward 1,3,5,6) were RIverdale, GErrard, GLadstone, HArgrave east of downtown (lengthened to 2L-5N in 1957).
- 416–483, 485, 488, 489 (HUdson 3,5,8,9) were MOhawk, MAyfair (lengthened to 2L-5N in 1958) and HUdson, HYland (lengthened to 2L-5N in 1953); these served the Eglinton area, then the northernmost point on the TTCsubway (1954).
- 416–782, 783 (RUssell 2,3) were ORchard, REdfern (lengthened to 2L-5N in 1958) in the Willowdale/Weston areas in the north of the city.
- 416–762, 766, 767, 769 (ROger 2,6,7,9) were MUrray, ROdney, LYndhurst, JUnction (lengthened to 2L-5N in 1955) in the Toronto Junctionarea in the west end.
- 416–531, 532, 533, 534, 535, 536 (LEnnox 1,2,3,4,5,6) were MElrose, LAkeside, KEnwood, OLiver, LLoydbrook, LOmbard in the Dufferin Street area west of downtown (lengthened to 2L-5N in 1956).[5]
Additional named exchanges were created (as 2L-5N) in the late 1950s to accommodate expansion into then-growing suburbs such as
See also
- List of Ontario area codes
- List of North American Numbering Plan area codes
References
- ^ "Toronto area code stereotypes: a guide to the city's shifting phone-based social hierarchy". Toronto Life. February 14, 2013. Archived from the original on May 24, 2016.
- ^ a b "BELL-8511-1 - A Bell representative demonstrates dial service to Toronto firemen, ON, 1924". Montréal: McCord Stewart Museum archive. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
- ^ LeBlanc, Dave (November 17, 2006). "Phone exchange names once defined neighbourhoods". The Globe and Mail. p. G6.
- ^ W.H. Nunn, Nationwide Numbering Plan, Bell System Technical Journal 31(5), 851 (1952)
- ^ a b "Toronto telephone exchange geography". Archived from the original on July 13, 2006.
- ^ Lu, Vanessa (July 22, 2011). "Toronto's two new area codes approved". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
- ^ News Staff (February 13, 2013). "2 new area codes coming to GTA next month". CBC News. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
- ^ "CNA - NPA Complex 416/437/647 Relief Planning". Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
Relief Date: 26 April 2025 Relief NPA: 942
- ^ 2020 April NANPA Exhaust Projections
- ^ "Local calling guide: Rate centre information".
- ^ Armstrong, Laura (July 23, 2014). "Toronto's 416 area codes selling for hundreds, even thousands". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
- )
- ^ "The Munsters - A Visit From Johann". Archived from the original on October 17, 2014. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
- ^ "967-1111™ as Canadian trademark Registration number TMA428709". Canadian Trademarks Database - Gov't Canada.
- ^ Davis, Maleana (August 2, 2012). "Drake Gets New Ink Dedicated To His Hometown & Aaliyah!". Retrieved July 24, 2014.
- ^ Blackett, Matthew (February 6, 2008). "Toronto's history in phone numbers". Spacing Toronto. Archived from the original on April 8, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
Further reading
- NANP Administrator (October 19, 1989). "Planning Letter(s): IL-89/010-048" (PDF). www.nationalnanpa.com. IL-89/010-048. NANP Administrator. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
NANP - Interchangeable Central Office Codes in the Toronto, Ontario, Canada 416 NPA
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: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
External links
- Area code map of Canada
- CNA exchange list for area code 416
- CNA exchange list for area code 647
- CNA exchange list for area code 437
North: 905/289/365/742 | ||
West: 905/289/365/742 | 416/437/647 | East: 905/289/365/742 |
South: Lake Ontario 905/289/365/742 |