Phone prefixes in Exeter, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

10

Telephone numbers covered

100,000

Carriers

10

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 23, 2006

Most recent assignment

March 14, 2023

Exeter’s share of its area codes

Within area code 226, Exeter accounts for only 6 of 778 prefixes (0.8%): the code is dominated by London and spread over 166 rate centres. Within area code 519, Exeter accounts for only 2 of 779 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by London and spread over 210 rate centres. Within area code 382, Exeter accounts for only 1 of 60 prefixes (1.7%): the code is dominated by Kitchener-Waterloo and spread over 38 rate centres. Within area code 548, Exeter 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, 10.0% of the total, ahead of 9 other carriers. Code by code: in 226, Bragg Communications Inc. leads with 1 of 6 prefixes ahead of 5 others; in 519, Bell Canada leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; IXICA Communications Inc. is the only holder in 382; ISP Telecom Inc. is the only holder in 548. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Exeter’s 4 area codes, while 10 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

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

How the allocation was built up

Exeter’s dated assignments run from 2006 to 2023. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 3 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 3 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Exeter’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 Execulink Telecom Inc. in 2006. The most recent arrivals are IXICA Communications Inc. (2023), ISP Telecom Inc. (2021) and TekSavvy Solutions Inc (2021), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Exeter.

Exeter 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 Exeter: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 10.0% of the prefixes against 9 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: 33.3% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2005–2009. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Exeter number

Exeter is served by 4 overlaid area codes (226, 519, 382 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

Exeter shares area codes 226, 519, 382 and 548 with at least 20 other rate centres, including London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Windsor, Guelph, Brantford, Chatham, Sarnia and Hespeler. The largest of them, London, holds 217 prefixes in 226, 382, 519 and 548; the smallest on the list, Essex, has just 16.

What a Exeter number tells you

A number attached to Exeter 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 10 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 Exeter: code 519-235 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 519-235-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Exeter, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Exeter prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Ontario