Phone prefixes in Severn Bridge, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

8

Telephone numbers covered

80,000

Carriers

7

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

August 16, 2007

Most recent assignment

July 28, 2023

Severn Bridge’s share of its area codes

Within area code 249, Severn Bridge accounts for only 4 of 585 prefixes (0.7%): the code is dominated by Sudbury and spread over 176 rate centres. Within area code 683, Severn Bridge accounts for only 2 of 80 prefixes (2.5%): the code is dominated by Lindsay and spread over 57 rate centres. Within area code 705, Severn Bridge accounts for only 2 of 770 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Barrie and spread over 203 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS Integrated Communications holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 25.0% of the total, ahead of 6 other carriers. Code by code: in 249, TELUS Integrated Communications leads with 2 of 4 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 683, ISP Telecom Inc. leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 705, Bell Canada leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Severn Bridge’s 3 area codes, while 7 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Severn Bridge’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 8 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS Integrated Communications, Bell Canada, Distributel and Fibernetics Corporation. A call showing a Severn Bridge number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Severn Bridge’s dated assignments run from 2007 to 2023. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 4 prefixes went to 4 carriers. 1 prefixes (13%) 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.

Severn Bridge’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 2007. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2023), IXICA Communications Inc. (2022) and Fibernetics Corporation (2020), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Severn Bridge.

Severn Bridge has just 8 prefixes (80,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Severn Bridge: the leader, TELUS Integrated Communications, holds only 25.0% of the prefixes against 6 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Growth is recent: 57.1% of the dated prefixes were assigned in the last ten years, peaking in 2020–2024. Severn Bridge is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Severn Bridge number

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

The numbering neighbourhood

Severn Bridge shares area codes 249, 683 and 705 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 Severn Bridge number tells you

A number attached to Severn Bridge tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Ontario, most often TELUS Integrated Communications. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 7 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 Severn Bridge: code 249-258 is recorded for TELUS Integrated Communications, so every 249-258-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Severn Bridge, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Severn Bridge prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 8 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario