Phone prefixes in Port Perry, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

13

Telephone numbers covered

130,000

Carriers

11

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

April 23, 2001

Most recent assignment

September 1, 2021

Port Perry’s share of its area codes

Within area code 289, Port Perry accounts for only 6 of 772 prefixes (0.8%): the code is dominated by Hamilton and spread over 87 rate centres. Within area code 365, Port Perry accounts for only 4 of 702 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Markham and spread over 88 rate centres. Within area code 905, Port Perry accounts for only 2 of 773 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Hamilton and spread over 94 rate centres. Within area code 742, Port Perry accounts for only 1 of 146 prefixes (0.7%): the code is dominated by Brampton and spread over 68 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 15.4% of the total, ahead of 10 other carriers. Code by code: in 289, Fibernetics Corporation leads with 2 of 6 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 365, Distributel leads with 1 of 4 prefixes ahead of 3 others; Bell Canada is the only holder in 905; Beanfield Technologies Inc. is the only holder in 742. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Port Perry’s 4 area codes, while 11 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

1 of Port Perry’s 13 prefixes (7.7%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Bell Canada, Fibernetics Corporation, Beanfield Technologies Inc and Comwave Networks. 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

Port Perry’s dated assignments run from 2001 to 2021. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 4 prefixes went to 4 carriers. 1 prefixes (8%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 2 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Port Perry’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 Bell Canada in 2001. The most recent arrivals are Beanfield Technologies Inc. (2021), TekSavvy Solutions Inc (2021) and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable) (2019), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Port Perry.

Port Perry has only 13 prefixes, or 130,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Port Perry: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 15.4% 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.

Allocation is mature: only 16.7% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Port Perry numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Port Perry number

Port Perry is served by 4 overlaid area codes (289, 365, 905 and 742). A 742 number is no more “out of town” than a 289 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Port Perry shares area codes 289, 365, 905 and 742 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Hamilton, Brampton, Oshawa, St. Catharines-Thorold, Oakville, Markham, Ajax-Pickering and Cooksville. The largest of them, Hamilton, holds 221 prefixes in 289, 365, 742 and 905; the smallest on the list, Dunnville, has just 28.

What a Port Perry number tells you

A number attached to Port Perry 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 Port Perry: code 905-982 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 905-982-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Port Perry, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Port Perry prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 13 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

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