Phone prefixes in Grafton, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

2

Telephone numbers covered

20,000

Carriers

2

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 3, 2018

Most recent assignment

October 3, 2018

Grafton’s share of its area codes

Within area code 289, Grafton accounts for only 1 of 772 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Hamilton and spread over 87 rate centres. Within area code 905, Grafton accounts for only 1 of 773 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Hamilton and spread over 94 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 50.0% of the total, ahead of 1 other carrier. Code by code: Videotron Ltd. is the only holder in 289; Bell Canada is the only holder in 905. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Grafton’s 2 area codes, while 2 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Grafton’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 2 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Bell Canada and Videotron Ltd. A call showing a Grafton number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Grafton’s dated assignments run from 2018 to 2018. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 1 prefixes (50%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. No prefix has been added since 2020: demand for numbers in Grafton is flat.

Grafton’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 Videotron Ltd. in 2018. The most recent arrivals are Videotron Ltd. (2018), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Grafton.

Grafton has just 2 prefixes (20,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

Bell Canada leads with 50.0% of the prefixes, but 1 competitors have set up in Grafton: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Allocation is mature: only 0.0% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Grafton numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

Dialling a Grafton number

Grafton is served by 2 overlaid area codes (289 and 905). A 905 number is no more “out of town” than a 289 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Grafton shares area codes 289 and 905 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Hamilton, Oshawa, St. Catharines-Thorold, Brampton, Oakville, Cooksville, Ajax-Pickering and Burlington. The largest of them, Hamilton, holds 166 prefixes in 289 and 905; the smallest on the list, Clarkson, has just 19.

What a Grafton number tells you

A number attached to Grafton 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 2 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 Grafton: code 905-349 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 905-349-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Grafton, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Grafton prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 2 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario