Phone prefixes in Garson, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

9

Telephone numbers covered

90,000

Carriers

8

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 12, 2006

Most recent assignment

October 17, 2022

Garson’s share of its area codes

Within area code 705, Garson accounts for only 6 of 770 prefixes (0.8%): the code is dominated by Barrie and spread over 203 rate centres. Within area code 249, Garson accounts for only 3 of 585 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Sudbury and spread over 176 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 22.2% of the total, ahead of 7 other carriers. Code by code: in 705, Bell Canada leads with 2 of 6 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 249, Distributel leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Garson’s 2 area codes, while 8 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

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

How the allocation was built up

Garson’s dated assignments run from 2006 to 2022. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 2 prefixes (22%) 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.

Garson’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 Zayo Canada Inc. in 2006. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2022), Distributel (2018) and TELUS Integrated Communications (2017), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Garson.

Garson 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 Garson: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 22.2% of the prefixes against 7 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Allocation is mature: only 14.3% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2005–2009, and 2 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Garson numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Garson number

Garson is served by 2 overlaid area codes (705 and 249). A 249 number is no more “out of town” than a 705 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Garson shares area codes 705 and 249 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Barrie, Sudbury, Peterborough, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Huntsville, Collingwood and Lindsay. The largest of them, Barrie, holds 92 prefixes in 249 and 705; the smallest on the list, Kirkland Lake, has just 12.

What a Garson number tells you

A number attached to Garson 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 8 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 Garson: code 705-693 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 705-693-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Garson, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Garson prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Ontario