Phone prefixes in Hearst, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

6

Telephone numbers covered

60,000

Carriers

5

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

July 31, 2006

Most recent assignment

March 6, 2023

Hearst’s share of its area codes

Within area code 705, Hearst accounts for only 4 of 770 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Barrie and spread over 203 rate centres. Within area code 249, Hearst accounts for only 2 of 585 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Sudbury and spread over 176 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Northern Telephone Ltd. holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 4 other carriers. Code by code: in 705, Northern Telephone Ltd. leads with 2 of 4 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 249, ExaTEL Inc. leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Hearst’s 2 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

2 of Hearst’s 6 prefixes (33.3%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility and TELUS Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Northern Telephone Ltd, ExaTEL Inc and TELUS Integrated Communications. 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

Hearst’s dated assignments run from 2006 to 2023. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 2 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.

Hearst’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Northern Telephone Ltd: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bell Mobility in 2006. The most recent arrivals are TELUS Integrated Communications (2023), ExaTEL Inc. (2017) and TELUS Mobility (2010), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Hearst.

Hearst has just 6 prefixes (60,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Hearst: the leader, Northern Telephone Ltd., holds only 33.3% of the prefixes against 4 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: 25.0% 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.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Hearst number

Hearst 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

Hearst 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 Hearst number tells you

A number attached to Hearst tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Ontario, most often Northern Telephone Ltd.. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 5 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 Hearst: code 705-362 is recorded for Northern Telephone Ltd., so every 705-362-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Hearst, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Hearst prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 6 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario