Phone prefixes in Dublin, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

3

Telephone numbers covered

30,000

Carriers

3

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

June 4, 2010

Most recent assignment

September 27, 2021

Dublin’s share of its area codes

Within area code 226, Dublin accounts for only 1 of 778 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by London and spread over 166 rate centres. Within area code 519, Dublin accounts for only 1 of 779 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by London and spread over 210 rate centres. Within area code 548, Dublin accounts for only 1 of 499 prefixes (0.2%): the code is dominated by London and spread over 170 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 2 other carriers. Code by code: Quadro Communications Co-operative Inc. is the only holder in 226; Bell Canada is the only holder in 519; Fibernetics Corporation is the only holder in 548. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Dublin’s 3 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Dublin’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 3 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Bell Canada, Fibernetics Corporation and Quadro Communications Co-operative Inc. A call showing a Dublin number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Dublin’s dated assignments run from 2010 to 2021. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 1 prefixes (33%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 1 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Dublin’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 Quadro Communications Co-operative Inc. in 2010. The most recent arrivals are Fibernetics Corporation (2021) and Quadro Communications Co-operative Inc. (2010), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Dublin.

Dublin has just 3 prefixes (30,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Dublin: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 33.3% of the prefixes against 2 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: 50.0% of the dated prefixes were assigned in the last ten years, peaking in 2010–2014. Dublin is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Dublin number

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

The numbering neighbourhood

Dublin shares area codes 226, 519 and 548 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 Dublin number tells you

A number attached to Dublin 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 3 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 Dublin: code 519-345 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 519-345-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Dublin, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Dublin prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 3 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario