Phone prefixes in Chatham, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

52

Telephone numbers covered

520,000

Carriers

17

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

September 11, 2000

Most recent assignment

June 25, 2025

Chatham’s share of its area codes

Within area code 226, Chatham accounts for only 22 of 778 prefixes (2.8%): the code is dominated by London and spread over 166 rate centres. Within area code 519, Chatham accounts for only 20 of 779 prefixes (2.6%): the code is dominated by London and spread over 210 rate centres. Within area code 548, Chatham accounts for only 8 of 499 prefixes (1.6%): the code is dominated by London and spread over 170 rate centres. Within area code 382, Chatham accounts for only 2 of 60 prefixes (3.3%): the code is dominated by Kitchener-Waterloo and spread over 38 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 10 prefixes, 19.2% of the total, ahead of 16 other carriers. Code by code: in 226, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) leads with 5 of 22 prefixes ahead of 12 others; in 519, Bell Canada leads with 9 of 20 prefixes ahead of 5 others; in 548, Iristel Inc. leads with 2 of 8 prefixes ahead of 5 others; in 382, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of Chatham’s 4 area codes, while 10 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

19 of Chatham’s 52 prefixes (36.5%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), TELUS Mobility, Bell Mobility and Fido Solutions Inc. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Bell Canada, Iristel Inc, TELUS Integrated Communications and Fibernetics Corporation. This is a sort by name, not a licence lookup, and a mobile prefix may have been ported to another network since.

How the allocation was built up

Chatham’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2025. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 10 prefixes went to 8 carriers. 11 prefixes (21%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 8 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Chatham’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Bell Canada, TELUS Mobility and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless): 4 carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to TELUS Mobility in 2000. The most recent arrivals are Cogeco Connexion Inc. (2024), Videotron Ltd. (2023) and InnSysVoice Corp (2018), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Chatham.

Chatham’s 52 prefixes provide 520,000 numbers, which corresponds to a mid-sized city or a well-established suburb that every major carrier wants a slice of.

No single carrier dominates Chatham: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 19.2% of the prefixes against 16 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Allocation is mature: only 19.5% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2010–2014, and 11 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Chatham numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

11 undated in the register.

Dialling a Chatham number

Chatham is served by 4 overlaid area codes (226, 519, 548 and 382). A 382 number is no more “out of town” than a 226 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Chatham shares area codes 226, 519, 548 and 382 with at least 20 other rate centres, including London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Windsor, Guelph, Brantford, Sarnia, Hespeler and Owen Sound. The largest of them, London, holds 217 prefixes in 226, 382, 519 and 548; the smallest on the list, St. Thomas, has just 15.

What a Chatham number tells you

A number attached to Chatham tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Ontario, most often Bell Canada. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 17 carriers present here or to a VoIP service usable anywhere. Nor does it tell you who is calling: caller ID can be spoofed, and an Ontario area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Chatham: code 519-351 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 519-351-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Chatham, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Chatham prefix

Each row is an in-service central-office code recorded for Chatham, with its original holder and year of assignment.

Allocated prefixes

All 52 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario