Area codes 416, 647, and 437

Area codes 416, 647, and 437 are telephone area codes serving the single rate centre of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Toronto

The incumbent local exchange carrier in the 416/647/437 territory is Bell Canada. Almost all Toronto Bell Canada landlines are in area code 416, with 647 numbers allocated disproportionately to a growing mobile telephone market and to competitive local exchange providers (such as cable and voice-over-IP gateways). Local numbers are portable, with few limited exceptions for specific services such as pocket pagers.

The competitive local exchange carriers for 416/647/437 are Rogers, Telus, and some independent companies.

Like the 212 and 312 area codes in New York and Chicago respectively, demand for 416 numbers for mobile, foreign exchange and voice over IP service in the "905 suburbs" (Durham, Peel, York and Halton regions) has made the numbers valuable as their local calling area is a superset of that of a suburban number.[1]

History
Evolution of area codes in Ontario and southwestern Quebec

Toronto's original telephone exchanges were manual; each had an exchange name and a block of four-digit numbers. The "GRover exchange" at Kingston Road and Main Street in East Toronto was the first Canadian dial exchange in 1924. (Montréal got its first dial telephones one year later.)[2] The numbers would be dialled as six digits (2L+4N) so "Grover 1234" (as GRover) was dialled GR-1234 (or 47-1234). Conversion to seven-digit (2L+5N) numbers began in 1951 and continued up to the introduction of direct distance dialling in 1958. The main area code, 416, was one of the 86 original area codes introduced in 1947.[3] It covered most of the populous Golden Horseshoe region in southern Ontario, from Colborne to Niagara Falls to Kitchener-Waterloo. It was almost completely surrounded by Ontario's other area code, 613. Ontario and Quebec were the only provinces to be assigned multiple area codes at the outset.

Toronto telephone numbers were six digits (2L+4N) with named exchanges. They were lengthened to seven (2L+5N) in the 1950s to accommodate direct distance dialling.[4]

The 416 area code has been split twice. The western portion of 416 (including Kitchener) was combined with the southern portion of 613 to form area code 519 in 1953, leaving 416 largely coextensive with the area generally reckoned as the core of the Golden Horseshoe. Despite the Greater Toronto Area's rapid growth, this configuration remained for 40 years.

By the late 1980s, however, 416 was close to exhaustion due to the GTA's continued growth and Canada's inefficient number allocation system. Canada does not use number pooling as a relief measure. Each competing carrier is assigned 10,000-number blocks (roughly corresponding to a single prefix) in each rate centre where it plans to offer service, regardless of their actual subscriber count. While most rate centres don't need nearly that many numbers to serve their customers, a number can't be allocated elsewhere once assigned to a carrier and rate centre. This resulted in thousands of wasted numbers. The problem wasn't as severe in the Golden Horseshoe as in other areas of Canada; then as now, numbers tended to be used up fairly quickly due to the area's dramatic growth.

Nonetheless, the GTA's rapid growth and the proliferation of cell phones, fax machines, and pagers made it obvious that the Golden Horseshoe needed another area code. In 1993, the 416 territory was reduced to its current size when it was cut back to just Metropolitan Toronto (York, East York, North York, Etobicoke, Scarborough and Old Toronto), while area code 905 was assigned to most of Toronto's suburbs; it almost completely surrounds 416. The split began on October 13, 1993; permissive dialing of 416 continued throughout the Golden Horseshoe until January 1, 1994. While the GTA would have likely needed another area code at some point given its explosive growth, it is possible that the 905 split would have been delayed had it been possible to reallocate numbers from the Golden Horseshoe's smaller rate centres to Toronto.

With the amalgamation of Metro Toronto into the "megacity" of Toronto in 1998, 416 became the only Canadian area code to serve just one rate centre and just one city. Many of Canada's larger cities, especially "megacities" created from mergers of previously separate cities, are split between multiple rate centres that have never been amalgamated. Toronto is an exception; it has been a single rate centre—by far, Canada's largest—since 1977, with the merger of the historical Agincourt, Don Mills, Islington, New Toronto, Scarborough, West Hill, Weston, and Willowdale exchanges into the Toronto exchange.[5]

The 1993 split had been intended as a long-term solution for Canada's largest toll-free calling zone. Within five years, 416 was once again close to exhaustion. Given Toronto's size and status as a single rate centre, numbers tended to be used up fairly quickly, so the number allocation problem was not nearly as serious as in other Canadian cities that are split between multiple rate centres. However, it was obvious that Toronto needed another area code. Splitting Toronto between two area codes—a solution adopted in the United States for cities like New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles—was ruled out because of the area's high population density and lack of a suitable boundary along which to split. Another option was an overlay area code covering the same area as 416. Overlays were a new concept at the time, and somewhat controversial due to the requirement for ten-digit dialling. However, Bell and other telephone companies pressed for an overlay. They wanted to spare their customers the expense and burden of having to change their numbers, which would have required en masse reprogramming of cellular telephones. It would also have been extremely difficult to split Toronto, since it is a single rate centre. Ultimately, it was decided to implement an overlay.

On March 5, 2001, 416 was overlaid with area code 647, Canada's first overlay code. The implementation of 647 made ten-digit dialling mandatory in Toronto. However, within a decade, both 416 and 647 were close to exhaustion. A new overlay area code, 437, commenced operation on March 25, 2013.[6][7] This effectively allocates 24 million numbers to one city of 2.5 million people, but area code 387 and area code 942 have been reserved for Toronto's future use.[6] However, it is not expected that it will be needed until 2025.[8]

Since the implementation of 647, overlays have become the preferred solution for area code relief in Canada, as they allow carriers an easy workaround for the number allocation problem. As of 2019, only four Canadian area codes (506, 709, 807 and 867) are still single-code areas (no overlay) and allow seven-digit local dialing.

Future

As of 2020, the 416/647/437 NPA is projected to be exhausted by 2025.[9]

Local calling area

Toronto is the centre of the largest local calling area in Canada, and one of the largest in North America. As of 2013, the following points in area code 905 were a local call to +1-416 Toronto: Ajax-Pickering, Aurora, Beeton, Bethesda, Bolton, Brampton, Caledon East, Campbellville, Castlemore, Claremont, Georgetown, Gormley, King City, Markham, Milton, Mississauga (rate centres Clarkson, Cooksville, Malton, Nobleton, Port Credit and Streetsville) Oak Ridges, Oakville, Palgrave, Richmond Hill, Schomberg, Snelgrove, South Pickering, Stouffville, Thornhill, Tottenham, Unionville, Uxbridge, Vaughan (rate centres Kleinburg, Maple and Woodbridge) and Victoria. Caledon in area code 519 is also a local call to Toronto.[10] Many of these suburban areas are long-distance to each other, particularly, but not exclusively, those which are across Toronto from each other (i.e. north versus east versus west of Toronto).

Toronto, Ontario

In the Greater Toronto Area, the terms the 416 is also used to describe the area within Toronto proper, and Toronto residents are called 416ers. In recent years, Toronto has been increasingly referred to as "The 6". The suburbs are referred to as the 905 or the 905 belt, and suburbanites are called 905ers (in this use the term does not include the more distant parts of area code 905, such as Niagara Falls).

The 647 area code does not carry the same strong geographic associations as it disproportionately contains nomadic services (such as mobile telephones and voice over IP); an incumbent Bell land line is hard-wired to a specific location in area 416, postal code M. Some have paid a premium for a true 416 number as the code gives the appearance of a local, long-established business instead of a new entrant.[11][12]

On March 17, 1966, The Munsters episode "A Visit from Johann" depicted a person-to-person call to a Happy Valley Lodge in the 416 area code.[13] A hamlet of Happy Valley exists in King Township, in 416 at the time but now (as part of York Region) in 905.

In 1994, food delivery chain Pizza Pizza obtained a Canadian registered trademark on its 416 telephone number, 967-1111, which had featured in distinctive radio advertising jingles since the 1970s.[14]

Toronto rapper Maestro rendered homage to the area code in his 1998 song "416/905 (TO Party Anthem)". Rapper Drake has a tattoo of the number on his rib to symbolize Toronto as his birthplace.[15] Drake has also released his fourth studio album, titled Views, referring to the 416 and 647 area codes. His album picture is of him sitting on top of the CN Tower in Toronto.

Central office codes

416: 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 412 413 414 415 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 812 813 814 815 816 817 818 819 820 821 822 823 824 825 826 827 828 829 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 839 840 841 842 843 844 845 846 847 848 849 850 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 869 870 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 884 885 886 887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 900 901 902 903 904 905 906 907 908 909 910 912 913 914 915 916 917 918 919 920 921 922 923 924 925 926 927 928 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 936 937 938 939 940 941 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 951 952 953 954 955 956 957 960 961 962 963 964 965 966 967 968 969 970 971 972 973 974 975 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 984 985 986 987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999

437: 222 266 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 317 333 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 370 371 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 540 580 588 777 800 826 828 836 886 887 888 889 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999

647: 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 247 248 251 252 253 254 255 256 258 259 260 261 262 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 277 278 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 302 303 308 309 313 317 318 321 323 324 325 326 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 360 361 362 367 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 388 389 390 391 392 393 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 426 427 428 429 430 435 436 438 439 444 447 448 449 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 475 476 477 478 479 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 556 557 558 559 560 562 563 564 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 580 588 590 591 599 600 601 602 606 607 608 609 618 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 648 649 650 651 652 654 655 656 657 660 666 667 668 669 670 671 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 805 808 812 813 814 815 816 817 818 820 821 822 823 824 825 826 827 828 829 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 839 840 841 842 843 844 845 846 847 848 849 850 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 869 870 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 884 885 886 887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 900 902 907 909 910 912 913 914 915 916 917 918 919 920 921 922 923 924 925 926 927 928 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 936 937 938 939 940 941 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 951 952 953 954 955 956 957 960 961 962 963 964 965 966 967 968 969 970 971 972 973 974 975 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 984 985 986 987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999

Note: All central office codes reside within the rate centre of Toronto. In some cases, 416 prefixes are available to wire centres outside Toronto city limits which serve Toronto subscribers (such as MALTON22 in Mississauga, which serves an airport hotel strip in Toronto).

Exchanges

Toronto's original telephone exchanges were manual; each had an exchange name and a block of four-digit numbers. The "GRover exchange" at Kingston Road and Main Street in East Toronto was the first Canadian dial exchange in 1924. (Montréal got its first dial telephones one year later.)[16] The numbers would be dialled as six digits (2L+4N) so "Grover 1234" (as GRover) was dialled GR-1234 (or 47-1234). Conversion to seven-digit (2L+5N) numbers began in 1951 and continued up to the introduction of direct distance dialling in 1958.

Toronto numbers migrated from six-digit (2L+4N) or manual exchanges include:

  • 416-363, 364, 366, 368 (EMpire 3,4,6,8) were ADelaide, ELgin, PLaza and WAverly in the Adelaide St (Queen West) area west of downtown. These were the first to be lengthened to 2L+5N in 1951-1953.
  • 416-861 (UNiversity 1) was TRinity exchange in the Adelaide St (Queen West) area west of downtown (lengthened to 2L+5N in 1955).
  • 416-921, 922, 923, 924 (WAlnut 1,2,3,4) were RAndolph, KIngsdale, MIdway and PRincess (lengthened to 2L+5N in 1954) in the Annex.
  • 416-691, 694, 699 (OXford 1,4,9) were HOward, GRover, OXford (lengthened to 2L+5N in 1955) in East Toronto. These numbers usually relate to the Beaches and Upper Beaches neighbourhoods or to Crescent Town in East York.
  • 416-461, 463, 465, 466 (HOward 1,3,5,6) were RIverdale, GErrard, GLadstone, HArgrave east of downtown (lengthened to 2L+5N in 1957).
  • 416-483, 485, 488, 489 (HUdson 3,5,8,9) were MOhawk, MAyfair (lengthened to 2L+5N in 1958) and HUdson, HYland (lengthened to 2L+5N in 1953); these served the Eglinton area, then the northernmost point on the TTC subway (1954).
  • 416-782, 783 (RUssell 2,3) were ORchard, REdfern (lengthened to 2L+5N in 1958) in the Willowdale/Weston areas in the north of the city.
  • 416-762, 766, 767, 769 (ROger 2,6,7,9) were MUrray, ROdney, LYndhurst, JUnction (lengthened to 2L+5N in 1955) in the Runnymede/Toronto Junction area in the west end.
  • 416-531, 532, 533, 534, 535, 536 (LEnnox 1,2,3,4,5,6) were MElrose, LAkeside, KEnwood, OLiver, LLoydbrook, LOmbard in the Dufferin Street area west of downtown (lengthened to 2L+5N in 1956).[5]

Additional named exchanges were created (as 2L+5N) in the late 1950s to accommodate expansion into then-growing suburbs such as Don Mills (GArden), Agincourt (AXminster/CYpress), Islington (BElmont/CEdar), New Toronto (CLifford), Scarborough (AMherst, PLymouth), West Hill (ATlantic), Weston (CHerry, MElrose) and Willowdale (BAldwin/ACademy).[17] Exchange names were phased out in 1961-1966 in favour of plain seven-digit numbers.

See also
  • List of North American area codes

References
  1. area code stereotypes guide
  2. "BELL-8511-1 - A Bell representative demonstrates dial service to Toronto firemen, ON, 1924". McCord museum archive, Montréal.
  3. "LincMad's 1947 Area Code List".
  4. "Phone exchange names once defined neighbourhoods". The Globe and Mail.
  5. "Toronto telephone exchange geography".
  6. Lu, Vanessa (22 July 2011). "Toronto's two new area codes approved". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2011-07-22.
  7. "2 new area codes coming to GTA next month". CBC News. 13 February 2013. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
  8. 2014–2 NRUF and NPA exhaust analysis
  9. 2020 April NANPA Exhaust Projections
  10. "Local calling guide: Rate centre information".
  11. Armstrong, Laura (23 July 2014). "Toronto's 416 area codes selling for hundreds, even thousands". Toronto Star. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  12. Carey Marsden (24 July 2014). "416: People spending a lot of money to get original Toronto area code". CIII-TV ("Global News"). Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  13. "The Munsters - A Visit From Johann". Archived from the original on 2014-10-17. Retrieved 2013-03-28.
  14. 967-1111™ as Canadian registered trademark TMA428709.
  15. Davis, Maleana (2 August 2012). "Drake Gets New Ink Dedicated To His Hometown & Aaliyah!". Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  16. "BELL-8511-1 - A Bell representative demonstrates dial service to Toronto firemen, ON, 1924". McCord museum archive, Montréal.
  17. "Toronto's history in phone numbers - Spacing Toronto". Spacing Toronto.
Ontario area codes: 226/519/548, 249/705, 289/365/905, 343/613, 416/437/647, 807
North: 905/289/365
West: 905/289/365 area code 416/647/437 East: 905/289/365
South: Lake Ontario
905/289/365

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