Phone prefixes in Waterdown, ON

In numbers

In-service prefixes

12

Telephone numbers covered

120,000

Carriers

10

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

December 6, 2005

Most recent assignment

June 18, 2021

Waterdown’s share of its area codes

Within area code 289, Waterdown 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, Waterdown 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, Waterdown accounts for only 2 of 773 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Hamilton and spread over 94 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 16.7% of the total, ahead of 9 other carriers. Code by code: in 289, Distributel leads with 1 of 6 prefixes ahead of 5 others; in 365, Distributel leads with 1 of 4 prefixes ahead of 3 others; Bell Canada is the only holder in 905. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Waterdown’s 3 area codes, while 9 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Waterdown’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 12 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Bell Canada, Distributel, Comwave Networks and Fibernetics Corporation. A call showing a Waterdown number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Waterdown’s dated assignments run from 2005 to 2021. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 2 prefixes (17%) 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.

Waterdown’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 TELUS Integrated Communications in 2005. The most recent arrivals are TekSavvy Solutions Inc (2021), Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable) (2020) and IXICA Communications Inc. (2017), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Waterdown.

Waterdown has only 12 prefixes, or 120,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Waterdown: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 16.7% of the prefixes against 9 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.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Waterdown number

Waterdown is served by 3 overlaid area codes (289, 365 and 905). A 905 number is no more “out of town” than a 289 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Waterdown shares area codes 289, 365 and 905 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Hamilton, Oshawa, Brampton, St. Catharines-Thorold, Oakville, Markham, Cooksville and Ajax-Pickering. The largest of them, Hamilton, holds 213 prefixes in 289, 365 and 905; the smallest on the list, Woodbridge, has just 28.

What a Waterdown number tells you

A number attached to Waterdown 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 10 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 Waterdown: code 905-689 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 905-689-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Waterdown, Ontario” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Waterdown prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 12 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Ontario