Phone prefixes in Niagara Falls, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

36

Telephone numbers covered

360,000

Carriers

13

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

March 11, 2004

Most recent assignment

November 11, 2024

Niagara Falls’s share of its area codes

Within area code 289, Niagara Falls accounts for only 13 of 772 prefixes (1.7%): the code is dominated by Hamilton and spread over 87 rate centres. Within area code 905, Niagara Falls accounts for only 11 of 773 prefixes (1.4%): the code is dominated by Hamilton and spread over 94 rate centres. Within area code 365, Niagara Falls accounts for only 9 of 702 prefixes (1.3%): the code is dominated by Markham and spread over 88 rate centres. Within area code 742, Niagara Falls accounts for only 3 of 146 prefixes (2.1%): the code is dominated by Brampton and spread over 68 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 11 prefixes, 30.6% of the total, ahead of 12 other carriers. Code by code: in 289, Iristel Inc. leads with 3 of 13 prefixes ahead of 6 others; Bell Canada is the only holder in 905; in 365, Iristel Inc. leads with 2 of 9 prefixes ahead of 7 others; in 742, Fibernetics Corporation leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Niagara Falls’s 4 area codes, while 8 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

3 of Niagara Falls’s 36 prefixes (8.3%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Bell Canada, Iristel Inc, Fibernetics Corporation 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

Niagara Falls’s dated assignments run from 2004 to 2024. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 9 prefixes went to 7 carriers. 10 prefixes (28%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 8 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Niagara Falls’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 Bell Canada in 2004. The most recent arrivals are TekSavvy Solutions Inc (2020), IXICA Communications Inc. (2020) and Distributel (2018), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls’s 36 prefixes provide 360,000 numbers, which corresponds to a mid-sized city or a well-established suburb that every major carrier wants a slice of.

No single carrier dominates Niagara Falls: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 30.6% of the prefixes against 12 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: 30.8% 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.

10 undated in the register.

Dialling a Niagara Falls number

Niagara Falls is served by 4 overlaid area codes (289, 905, 365 and 742). A 742 number is no more “out of town” than a 289 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Niagara Falls shares area codes 289, 905, 365 and 742 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Hamilton, Brampton, Oshawa, St. Catharines-Thorold, Oakville, Markham, Ajax-Pickering and Cooksville. The largest of them, Hamilton, holds 221 prefixes in 289, 365, 742 and 905; the smallest on the list, Maple, has just 28.

What a Niagara Falls number tells you

A number attached to Niagara Falls 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 13 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 Niagara Falls: code 905-262 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 905-262-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Niagara Falls, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Niagara Falls prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 36 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario