Phone prefixes in Pefferlaw, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

11

Telephone numbers covered

110,000

Carriers

11

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

February 11, 2005

Most recent assignment

March 27, 2023

Pefferlaw’s share of its area codes

Within area code 249, Pefferlaw accounts for only 7 of 585 prefixes (1.2%): the code is dominated by Sudbury and spread over 176 rate centres. Within area code 705, Pefferlaw accounts for only 3 of 770 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Barrie and spread over 203 rate centres. Within area code 683, Pefferlaw 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 1 prefixes, 9.1% of the total, ahead of 10 other carriers. Code by code: in 249, Distributel leads with 1 of 7 prefixes ahead of 6 others; in 705, Bell Canada leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; ISP Telecom Inc. is the only holder in 683. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Pefferlaw’s 3 area codes, while 11 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Pefferlaw’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 11 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Bell Canada, Comwave Networks, Distributel and FGLTEL Inc. A call showing a Pefferlaw number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Pefferlaw’s dated assignments run from 2005 to 2023. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 4 prefixes went to 4 carriers. 1 prefixes (9%) 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.

Pefferlaw’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. (Cable) in 2005. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2023), FGLTEL Inc. (2022) and TekSavvy Solutions Inc (2021), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Pefferlaw.

Pefferlaw has only 11 prefixes, or 110,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Pefferlaw: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 9.1% 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: 40.0% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2015–2019. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Pefferlaw number

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

The numbering neighbourhood

Pefferlaw shares area codes 249, 705 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, Kapuskasing, has just 12.

What a Pefferlaw number tells you

A number attached to Pefferlaw 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 Pefferlaw: code 705-437 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 705-437-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Pefferlaw, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Pefferlaw prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 11 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario