Phone prefixes in Comber, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

9

Telephone numbers covered

90,000

Carriers

9

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

January 10, 2014

Most recent assignment

October 3, 2023

Comber’s share of its area codes

Within area code 226, Comber accounts for only 4 of 778 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by London and spread over 166 rate centres. Within area code 548, Comber accounts for only 4 of 499 prefixes (0.8%): the code is dominated by London and spread over 170 rate centres. Within area code 519, Comber accounts for only 1 of 779 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by London and spread over 210 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 11.1% of the total, ahead of 8 other carriers. Code by code: in 226, Comwave Networks leads with 1 of 4 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 548, Distributel leads with 1 of 4 prefixes ahead of 3 others; Bell Canada is the only holder in 519. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Comber’s 3 area codes, while 9 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Comber’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 9 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Bell Canada, Comwave Networks, Distributel and Fibernetics Corporation. A call showing a Comber number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Comber’s dated assignments run from 2014 to 2023. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 5 prefixes went to 5 carriers. 1 prefixes (11%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 5 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Comber’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 Comwave Networks in 2014. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2023), IXICA Communications Inc. (2021) and Fibernetics Corporation (2021), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Comber.

Comber has just 9 prefixes (90,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Comber: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 11.1% of the prefixes against 8 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Growth is recent: 62.5% of the dated prefixes were assigned in the last ten years, peaking in 2020–2024. Comber is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Comber number

Comber is served by 3 overlaid area codes (226, 548 and 519). A 519 number is no more “out of town” than a 226 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Comber shares area codes 226, 548 and 519 with at least 20 other rate centres, including London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Windsor, Guelph, Brantford, Sarnia, Chatham and Hespeler. The largest of them, London, holds 214 prefixes in 226, 519 and 548; the smallest on the list, Essex, has just 16.

What a Comber number tells you

A number attached to Comber 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 9 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 Comber: code 519-687 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 519-687-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Comber, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Comber prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 9 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario