Phone prefixes in Parry Sound, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

18

Telephone numbers covered

180,000

Carriers

11

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 2, 2000

Most recent assignment

August 20, 2025

Parry Sound’s share of its area codes

Within area code 705, Parry Sound accounts for only 10 of 770 prefixes (1.3%): the code is dominated by Barrie and spread over 203 rate centres. Within area code 249, Parry Sound accounts for only 7 of 585 prefixes (1.2%): the code is dominated by Sudbury and spread over 176 rate centres. Within area code 683, Parry Sound accounts for only 1 of 80 prefixes (1.3%): the code is dominated by Lindsay and spread over 57 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 4 prefixes, 22.2% of the total, ahead of 10 other carriers. Code by code: in 705, Bell Canada leads with 3 of 10 prefixes ahead of 7 others; in 249, Fibernetics Corporation leads with 2 of 7 prefixes ahead of 5 others; Cogeco Connexion Inc. is the only holder in 683. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Parry Sound’s 3 area codes, while 7 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

5 of Parry Sound’s 18 prefixes (27.8%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, Bell Mobility, Fido Solutions Inc and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless). Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Bell Canada, Fibernetics Corporation, 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

Parry Sound’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2025. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 3 prefixes (17%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 4 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Parry Sound’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 Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) in 2000. The most recent arrivals are Cogeco Connexion Inc. (2025), Fibernetics Corporation (2021) and Bell Canada (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Parry Sound.

Parry Sound has only 18 prefixes, or 180,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Parry Sound: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 22.2% of the prefixes against 10 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: 26.7% 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.

3 undated in the register.

Dialling a Parry Sound number

Parry Sound is served by 3 overlaid area codes (705, 249 and 683). A 683 number is no more “out of town” than a 705 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Parry Sound shares area codes 705, 249 and 683 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Barrie, Sudbury, Peterborough, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Huntsville, Lindsay and Collingwood. The largest of them, Barrie, holds 95 prefixes in 249, 683 and 705; the smallest on the list, Kirkland Lake, has just 12.

What a Parry Sound number tells you

A number attached to Parry Sound 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 11 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 Parry Sound: code 705-746 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 705-746-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Parry Sound, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Parry Sound prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 18 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario