Phone prefixes in Cookstown, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

10

Telephone numbers covered

100,000

Carriers

9

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

August 8, 2005

Most recent assignment

October 16, 2023

Cookstown’s share of its area codes

Within area code 249, Cookstown accounts for only 5 of 585 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Sudbury and spread over 176 rate centres. Within area code 705, Cookstown accounts for only 3 of 770 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Barrie and spread over 203 rate centres. Within area code 683, Cookstown accounts for only 2 of 80 prefixes (2.5%): the code is dominated by Lindsay and spread over 57 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Fibernetics Corporation holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 20.0% of the total, ahead of 8 other carriers. Code by code: in 249, Fibernetics Corporation leads with 2 of 5 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 705, Bell Canada leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 683, ISP Telecom Inc. leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Cookstown’s 3 area codes, while 9 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Cookstown’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 10 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Fibernetics Corporation, Bell Canada, Comwave Networks and Distributel. A call showing a Cookstown number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Cookstown’s dated assignments run from 2005 to 2023. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 4 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 1 prefixes (10%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 4 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Cookstown’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 Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable) in 2005. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2023), IXICA Communications Inc. (2022) and Fibernetics Corporation (2020), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Cookstown.

Cookstown has only 10 prefixes, or 100,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Cookstown: the leader, Fibernetics Corporation, holds only 20.0% 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.

Demand remains steady: 44.4% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2020–2024. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Cookstown number

Cookstown is served by 3 overlaid area codes (249, 705 and 683). A 683 number is no more “out of town” than a 249 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Cookstown shares area codes 249, 705 and 683 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Barrie, Sudbury, Peterborough, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Huntsville, Lindsay and Collingwood. The largest of them, Barrie, holds 95 prefixes in 249, 683 and 705; the smallest on the list, Kapuskasing, has just 12.

What a Cookstown number tells you

A number attached to Cookstown tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Ontario, most often Fibernetics Corporation. 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 Cookstown: code 249-663 is recorded for Fibernetics Corporation, so every 249-663-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Cookstown, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Cookstown prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 10 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario