Phone prefixes in Melbourne, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

5

Telephone numbers covered

50,000

Carriers

5

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

April 9, 2018

Most recent assignment

March 15, 2023

Melbourne’s share of its area codes

Within area code 226, Melbourne accounts for only 2 of 778 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by London and spread over 166 rate centres. Within area code 382, Melbourne accounts for only 1 of 60 prefixes (1.7%): the code is dominated by Kitchener-Waterloo and spread over 38 rate centres. Within area code 519, Melbourne 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, Melbourne 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, 20.0% of the total, ahead of 4 other carriers. Code by code: in 226, Distributel leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; IXICA Communications Inc. is the only holder in 382; Bell Canada is the only holder in 519; Fibernetics Corporation is the only holder in 548. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Melbourne’s 4 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Melbourne’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 5 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Bell Canada, Distributel, Fibernetics Corporation and IXICA Communications Inc. A call showing a Melbourne number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Melbourne’s dated assignments run from 2018 to 2023. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 1 prefixes (20%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 3 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Melbourne’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 Distributel in 2018. The most recent arrivals are IXICA Communications Inc. (2023), TekSavvy Solutions Inc (2021) and Fibernetics Corporation (2020), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Melbourne.

Melbourne has just 5 prefixes (50,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Melbourne: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 20.0% 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.

Growth is recent: 75.0% of the dated prefixes were assigned in the last ten years, peaking in 2020–2024. Melbourne is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Melbourne number

Melbourne is served by 4 overlaid area codes (226, 382, 519 and 548). A 548 number is no more “out of town” than a 226 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Melbourne shares area codes 226, 382, 519 and 548 with at least 20 other rate centres, including London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Windsor, Guelph, Brantford, Chatham, Sarnia and Hespeler. The largest of them, London, holds 217 prefixes in 226, 382, 519 and 548; the smallest on the list, Essex, has just 16.

What a Melbourne number tells you

A number attached to Melbourne 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 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 Melbourne: code 519-289 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 519-289-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Melbourne, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Melbourne prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 5 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario