Phone prefixes in Cobden, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

4

Telephone numbers covered

40,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

December 30, 2009

Most recent assignment

October 2, 2018

Cobden’s share of its area codes

Within area code 343, Cobden accounts for only 2 of 641 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 116 rate centres. Within area code 613, Cobden accounts for only 2 of 772 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 132 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 25.0% of the total, ahead of 3 other carriers. Code by code: in 343, TELUS Integrated Communications leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 613, Bell Canada leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Cobden’s 2 area codes, while 4 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Cobden’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 4 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Bell Canada, NRTC Communications, TELUS Integrated Communications and Videotron Ltd. A call showing a Cobden number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Cobden’s dated assignments run from 2009 to 2018. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 1 prefixes (25%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. No prefix has been added since 2020: demand for numbers in Cobden is flat.

Cobden’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Bell Canada: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to NRTC Communications in 2009. The most recent arrivals are Videotron Ltd. (2018), TELUS Integrated Communications (2017) and NRTC Communications (2009), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Cobden.

Cobden has just 4 prefixes (40,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Cobden: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 25.0% of the prefixes against 3 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 0.0% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Cobden numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Cobden number

Cobden is served by 2 overlaid area codes (343 and 613). A 613 number is no more “out of town” than a 343 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Cobden shares area codes 343 and 613 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Ottawa-Hull, Kingston, Belleville, Cornwall, Kanata-Stittsville, Brockville, Smiths Falls and Bancroft. The largest of them, Ottawa-Hull, holds 425 prefixes in 343 and 613; the smallest on the list, Brighton, has just 10.

What a Cobden number tells you

A number attached to Cobden 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 4 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 Cobden: code 613-646 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 613-646-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Cobden, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Cobden prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 4 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario