Phone prefixes in Collingwood

In numbers

In-service prefixes

35

Telephone numbers covered

350,000

Carriers

16

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

2

First assignment

October 27, 1999

Most recent assignment

September 13, 2024

Provinces and territories

This name is used for separate rate centres in 2 provinces. The prefixes below share a name in the CNAC register but belong to different communities.

• Ontario — 30 prefixes
• Nova Scotia — 5 prefixes

Collingwood’s share of its area codes

Within area code 249, Collingwood accounts for only 15 of 585 prefixes (2.6%): the code is dominated by Sudbury and spread over 176 rate centres. Within area code 705, Collingwood accounts for only 15 of 770 prefixes (1.9%): the code is dominated by Barrie and spread over 203 rate centres. Within area code 782, Collingwood accounts for only 3 of 456 prefixes (0.7%): the code is dominated by Halifax and spread over 142 rate centres. Within area code 902, Collingwood accounts for only 2 of 782 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Halifax and spread over 175 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) holds the largest share at 8 prefixes, 22.9% of the total, ahead of 15 other carriers. Code by code: in 249, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) leads with 6 of 15 prefixes ahead of 6 others; in 705, Bell Canada leads with 5 of 15 prefixes ahead of 8 others; in 782, Fibernetics Corporation leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 902, Aliant Telecom (NS) leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Collingwood’s 4 area codes, while 12 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

12 of Collingwood’s 35 prefixes (34.3%) 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, Fibernetics Corporation, Iristel Inc and Distributel. 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

Collingwood’s dated assignments run from 1999 to 2024. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 10 prefixes went to 5 carriers. 5 prefixes (14%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 7 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Collingwood’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Bell Canada and Aliant Telecom (NS): these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bell Canada in 1999. The most recent arrivals are IXICA Communications Inc. (2020), ISP Telecom Inc. (2019) and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (2019), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Collingwood.

Collingwood’s 35 prefixes provide 350,000 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 Collingwood: the leader, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), holds only 22.9% of the prefixes against 15 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Demand remains steady: 23.3% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2015–2019. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

5 undated in the register.

Dialling a Collingwood number

Collingwood is served by 4 overlaid area codes (249, 705, 782 and 902). A 902 number is no more “out of town” than a 249 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Collingwood shares area codes 249, 705, 782 and 902 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Halifax, Barrie, Sudbury, Peterborough, Charlottetown, Sault Ste. Marie, Sydney and North Bay. The largest of them, Halifax, holds 220 prefixes in 782 and 902; the smallest on the list, Bridgewater, has just 22.

What a Collingwood number tells you

A number attached to Collingwood tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Ontario, most often Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless). It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 16 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 Collingwood: code 249-399 is recorded for Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), so every 249-399-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Collingwood, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Collingwood prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 35 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario