Phone prefixes in Peterborough, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

60

Telephone numbers covered

600,000

Carriers

16

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

March 15, 2000

Most recent assignment

February 14, 2025

Peterborough’s share of its area codes

Within area code 705, Peterborough accounts for only 42 of 770 prefixes (5.5%): the code is dominated by Barrie and spread over 203 rate centres. Within area code 249, Peterborough accounts for only 15 of 585 prefixes (2.6%): the code is dominated by Sudbury and spread over 176 rate centres. Within area code 683, Peterborough accounts for only 3 of 80 prefixes (3.8%): the code is dominated by Lindsay and spread over 57 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 14 prefixes, 23.3% of the total, ahead of 15 other carriers. Code by code: in 705, Bell Canada leads with 13 of 42 prefixes ahead of 13 others; in 249, Iristel Inc. leads with 5 of 15 prefixes ahead of 8 others; in 683, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of Peterborough’s 3 area codes, while 7 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

21 of Peterborough’s 60 prefixes (35.0%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) and Fido Solutions Inc. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Bell Canada, Iristel Inc, TELUS Integrated Communications and Fibernetics Corporation. 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

Peterborough’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2025. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 11 prefixes went to 9 carriers. 15 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 9 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Peterborough’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Bell Canada, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) and TELUS Mobility: these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to TELUS Mobility in 2000. The most recent arrivals are Cogeco Connexion Inc. (2025), InnSysVoice Corp (2018) and Comwave Networks (2014), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Peterborough.

Peterborough’s 60 prefixes provide 600,000 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 Peterborough: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 23.3% of the prefixes against 15 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: 20.0% 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.

15 undated in the register.

Dialling a Peterborough number

Peterborough 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

Peterborough shares area codes 705, 249 and 683 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Barrie, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Huntsville, Lindsay, Collingwood and Orillia. 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 Peterborough number tells you

A number attached to Peterborough 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 16 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 Peterborough: code 705-740 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 705-740-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Peterborough, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Peterborough prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 60 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario