Phone prefixes in Warren

In numbers

In-service prefixes

7

Telephone numbers covered

70,000

Carriers

7

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

2

First assignment

November 3, 2008

Most recent assignment

May 11, 2022

Provinces and territories

This name is used for separate rate centres in 2 provinces. The prefixes below share a name in the CNAC register but belong to different communities.

• Ontario — 6 prefixes
• Manitoba — 1 prefixes

Warren’s share of its area codes

Within area code 249, Warren accounts for only 4 of 585 prefixes (0.7%): the code is dominated by Sudbury and spread over 176 rate centres. Within area code 705, Warren accounts for only 2 of 770 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Barrie and spread over 203 rate centres. Within area code 204, Warren accounts for only 1 of 781 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 245 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 14.3% of the total, ahead of 6 other carriers. Code by code: in 249, Comwave Networks leads with 1 of 4 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 705, Bell Canada leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; MTS Inc. is the only holder in 204. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Warren’s 3 area codes, while 7 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Warren’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 7 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Bell Canada, Bragg Communications Inc, Comwave Networks and Distributel. A call showing a Warren number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Warren’s dated assignments run from 2008 to 2022. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 2 prefixes (29%) 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.

Warren’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Bell Canada and MTS Inc: these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bragg Communications Inc. in 2008. The most recent arrivals are Fibernetics Corporation (2022), Distributel (2018) and TELUS Integrated Communications (2017), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Warren.

Warren has just 7 prefixes (70,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Warren: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 14.3% 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.

Demand remains steady: 20.0% 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.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Warren number

Warren is served by 3 overlaid area codes (249, 705 and 204). A 204 number is no more “out of town” than a 249 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Warren shares area codes 249, 705 and 204 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Winnipeg, Barrie, Sudbury, Peterborough, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Huntsville and Collingwood. The largest of them, Winnipeg, holds 241 prefixes in 204; the smallest on the list, Selkirk, has just 14.

What a Warren number tells you

A number attached to Warren 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 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 Warren: code 705-967 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 705-967-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Warren, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Warren prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 7 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario