Phone prefixes in Ottawa-Hull

In numbers

In-service prefixes

563

Telephone numbers covered

5,630,000

Carriers

23

Area codes

6

Provinces and territories

2

First assignment

October 14, 1999

Most recent assignment

December 22, 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 — 441 prefixes
• Quebec — 122 prefixes

Ottawa-Hull’s share of its area codes

Within area code 613, Ottawa-Hull takes 321 of 772 prefixes (41.6%), a substantial slice of a code shared by 132 rate centres, the largest of them Ottawa-Hull. Within area code 343, Ottawa-Hull takes 104 of 641 prefixes (16.2%), a substantial slice of a code shared by 116 rate centres, the largest of them Ottawa-Hull. Within area code 819, Ottawa-Hull takes 83 of 770 prefixes (10.8%), a substantial slice of a code shared by 211 rate centres, the largest of them Ottawa-Hull. Within area code 873, Ottawa-Hull accounts for only 36 of 667 prefixes (5.4%): the code is dominated by Sherbrooke and spread over 162 rate centres. Within area code 753, Ottawa-Hull takes 16 of 103 prefixes (15.5%), a substantial slice of a code shared by 62 rate centres, the largest of them Ottawa-Hull. Within area code 468, Ottawa-Hull accounts for only 3 of 67 prefixes (4.5%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 57 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 170 prefixes, 30.2% of the total, ahead of 22 other carriers. Code by code: in 613, Bell Canada leads with 134 of 321 prefixes ahead of 15 others; in 343, Bell Mobility leads with 22 of 104 prefixes ahead of 17 others; in 819, Bell Canada leads with 25 of 83 prefixes ahead of 15 others; in 873, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) leads with 12 of 36 prefixes ahead of 10 others; in 753, Iristel Inc. leads with 8 of 16 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 468, Iristel Inc. leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of Ottawa-Hull’s 6 area codes, while 4 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

232 of Ottawa-Hull’s 563 prefixes (41.2%) 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, Iristel Inc, Videotron Ltd and Zayo Canada Inc. 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

Ottawa-Hull’s dated assignments run from 1999 to 2025. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 88 prefixes went to 15 carriers. 184 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 74 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Ottawa-Hull’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Bell Canada, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) and Bell Mobility: 7 carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bell Canada in 1999. The most recent arrivals are Cogeco Connexion Inc. (2025), Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (2019) and IXICA Communications Inc. (2018), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Ottawa-Hull.

With 563 prefixes, Ottawa-Hull has a theoretical pool of 5,630,000 numbers: metropolitan-scale capacity, where running out of free combinations is the very reason overlay area codes exist.

No single carrier dominates Ottawa-Hull: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 30.2% of the prefixes against 22 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 19.5% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2010–2014, and 184 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Ottawa-Hull numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

The register also shows 1 prefix assigned but not yet in service in Ottawa-Hull (Cogeco Connexion Inc): numbers that will start showing up on call displays in the coming months.

184 undated in the register.

Dialling a Ottawa-Hull number

Ottawa-Hull is served by 6 overlaid area codes (613, 343, 819, 873, 753 and 468). A 468 number is no more “out of town” than a 613 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Ottawa-Hull shares area codes 613, 343, 819, 873, 753 and 468 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Sherbrooke, Kingston, Trois-Rivieres, Belleville, Cornwall, Drummondville, Kanata-Stittsville and Brockville. The largest of them, Sherbrooke, holds 104 prefixes in 468, 819 and 873; the smallest on the list, Ste-Agathe, has just 21.

What a Ottawa-Hull number tells you

A number attached to Ottawa-Hull 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 23 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 Ottawa-Hull: code 613-221 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 613-221-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Ottawa-Hull, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Ottawa-Hull prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

Showing 400 of 563 prefixes, largest rate centres first.

Elsewhere in Ontario