Phone prefixes in Portland, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

4

Telephone numbers covered

40,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

July 25, 2012

Most recent assignment

August 8, 2022

Portland’s share of its area codes

Within area code 613, Portland accounts for only 2 of 772 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 132 rate centres. Within area code 343, Portland accounts for only 1 of 641 prefixes (0.2%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 116 rate centres. Within area code 753, Portland accounts for only 1 of 103 prefixes (1.0%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 62 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 25.0% of the total, ahead of 3 other carriers. Code by code: in 613, Bell Canada leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; TELUS Integrated Communications is the only holder in 343; Fibernetics Corporation is the only holder in 753. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Portland’s 3 area codes, while 4 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Portland’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 4 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Bell Canada, Fibernetics Corporation, TELUS Integrated Communications and Westport Telephone Company Limited. A call showing a Portland number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Portland’s dated assignments run from 2012 to 2022. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 1 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 1 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Portland’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 Westport Telephone Company Limited in 2012. The most recent arrivals are Fibernetics Corporation (2022), TELUS Integrated Communications (2017) and Westport Telephone Company Limited (2012), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Portland.

Portland has just 4 prefixes (40,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Portland: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 25.0% of the prefixes against 3 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: 33.3% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2010–2014. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Portland number

Portland is served by 3 overlaid area codes (613, 343 and 753). A 753 number is no more “out of town” than a 613 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Portland shares area codes 613, 343 and 753 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Ottawa-Hull, Kingston, Belleville, Cornwall, Kanata-Stittsville, Brockville, Smiths Falls and Bancroft. The largest of them, Ottawa-Hull, holds 441 prefixes in 343, 613 and 753; the smallest on the list, Cumberland, has just 11.

What a Portland number tells you

A number attached to Portland 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 4 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 Portland: code 613-272 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 613-272-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Portland, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Portland prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 4 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario