Phone prefixes in Geraldton, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

9

Telephone numbers covered

90,000

Carriers

6

Area codes

1

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

March 15, 2007

Most recent assignment

September 19, 2024

Geraldton’s share of its area code

Within area code 807, Geraldton accounts for only 9 of 293 prefixes (3.1%): the code is dominated by Thunder Bay and spread over 85 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Iristel Inc. holds the largest share at 3 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 5 other carriers. Code by code: in 807, Iristel Inc. leads with 3 of 9 prefixes ahead of 5 others.

Wireless and wireline

3 of Geraldton’s 9 prefixes (33.3%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) and Bell Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Iristel Inc, Bell Canada, Distributel and ExaTEL Inc. This is a sort by name, not a licence lookup, and a mobile prefix may have been ported to another network since.

How the allocation was built up

Geraldton’s dated assignments run from 2007 to 2024. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 4 prefixes went to 3 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 4 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Geraldton’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. (Wireless) in 2007. The most recent arrivals are Distributel (2022), ExaTEL Inc. (2021) and Iristel Inc. (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Geraldton.

Geraldton 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 Geraldton: the leader, Iristel Inc., holds only 33.3% of the prefixes against 5 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 2020–2024. Geraldton is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Geraldton number

A single area code, 807, covers Geraldton, and it is not overlaid with any other code on this territory: one of the few parts of Canada where seven-digit local dialling may still work. From abroad, dial +1 807 and the seven-digit number.

The numbering neighbourhood

Geraldton shares area code 807 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Thunder Bay, Kenora, Fort Frances, Dryden, Marathon, Nipigon, Atikokan and Sioux Lookout. The largest of them, Thunder Bay, holds 67 prefixes in 807; the smallest on the list, Jaffray-Melick, has just 2.

What a Geraldton number tells you

A number attached to Geraldton tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Ontario, most often Iristel Inc.. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 6 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 Geraldton: code 807-790 is recorded for Iristel Inc., so every 807-790-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Geraldton, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality.

Every Geraldton prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Ontario