Phone prefixes in Hickson, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

2

Telephone numbers covered

20,000

Carriers

2

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 5, 2022

Most recent assignment

October 5, 2022

Hickson’s share of its area codes

Within area code 519, Hickson accounts for only 1 of 779 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by London and spread over 210 rate centres. Within area code 548, Hickson 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, 50.0% of the total, ahead of 1 other carrier. Code by code: Bell Canada is the only holder in 519; Fibernetics Corporation is the only holder in 548. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Hickson’s 2 area codes, while 2 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

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

How the allocation was built up

Hickson’s dated assignments run from 2022 to 2022. The busiest period was 2020–2024, 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. Since 2020 another 1 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Hickson’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 Fibernetics Corporation in 2022. The most recent arrivals are Fibernetics Corporation (2022), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Hickson.

Hickson 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 Hickson: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Growth is recent: 100.0% of the dated prefixes were assigned in the last ten years, peaking in 2020–2024. Hickson is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

Dialling a Hickson number

Hickson is served by 2 overlaid area codes (519 and 548). A 548 number is no more “out of town” than a 519 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Hickson shares area codes 519 and 548 with at least 20 other rate centres, including London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Windsor, Guelph, Brantford, Sarnia, Chatham and Hespeler. The largest of them, London, holds 142 prefixes in 519 and 548; the smallest on the list, St. Thomas, has just 10.

What a Hickson number tells you

A number attached to Hickson 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 Hickson: code 519-462 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 519-462-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Hickson, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Hickson prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Ontario