Phone prefixes in Oakville

In numbers

In-service prefixes

95

Telephone numbers covered

950,000

Carriers

20

Area codes

6

Provinces and territories

2

First assignment

December 22, 1999

Most recent assignment

February 6, 2025

Provinces and territories

This name is used for separate rate centres in 2 provinces. The prefixes below share a name in the CNAC register but belong to different communities.

• Ontario — 90 prefixes
• Manitoba — 5 prefixes

Oakville’s share of its area codes

Within area code 289, Oakville accounts for only 39 of 772 prefixes (5.1%): the code is dominated by Hamilton and spread over 87 rate centres. Within area code 905, Oakville accounts for only 34 of 773 prefixes (4.4%): the code is dominated by Hamilton and spread over 94 rate centres. Within area code 365, Oakville accounts for only 17 of 702 prefixes (2.4%): the code is dominated by Markham and spread over 88 rate centres. Within area code 204, Oakville accounts for only 2 of 781 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 245 rate centres. Within area code 431, Oakville accounts for only 2 of 572 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 146 rate centres. Within area code 584, Oakville accounts for only 1 of 15 prefixes (6.7%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 13 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 20 prefixes, 21.1% of the total, ahead of 19 other carriers. Code by code: in 289, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) leads with 7 of 39 prefixes ahead of 14 others; in 905, Bell Canada leads with 16 of 34 prefixes ahead of 6 others; in 365, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) leads with 5 of 17 prefixes ahead of 9 others; in 204, LES.NET (1996) Inc. leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 431, Distributel leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; IXICA Communications Inc. is the only holder in 584. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Oakville’s 6 area codes, while 8 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

37 of Oakville’s 95 prefixes (38.9%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), Bell Mobility, TELUS Mobility and Fido Solutions Inc. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Bell Canada, Distributel, Iristel 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

Oakville’s dated assignments run from 1999 to 2025. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 20 prefixes went to 12 carriers. 24 prefixes (25%) 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.

Oakville’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Bell Canada, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) and Bell Mobility: 6 carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bell Mobility in 1999. The most recent arrivals are TekSavvy Solutions Inc (2021), IXICA Communications Inc. (2017) and InnSysVoice Corp (2015), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Oakville.

Oakville’s 95 prefixes provide 950,000 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 Oakville: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 21.1% of the prefixes against 19 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Allocation is mature: only 11.3% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2010–2014, and 24 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Oakville numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

24 undated in the register.

Dialling a Oakville number

Oakville is served by 6 overlaid area codes (289, 905, 365, 204, 431 and 584). A 584 number is no more “out of town” than a 289 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Oakville shares area codes 289, 905, 365, 204, 431 and 584 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Winnipeg, Hamilton, Oshawa, Brampton, St. Catharines-Thorold, Markham, Cooksville and Ajax-Pickering. The largest of them, Winnipeg, holds 390 prefixes in 204, 431 and 584; the smallest on the list, Portage La Prairie, has just 33.

What a Oakville number tells you

A number attached to Oakville 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 20 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 Oakville: code 289-386 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 289-386-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Oakville, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Oakville prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 95 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario