Area codes 416, 647, and 437
Almost all Toronto Bell Canada landlines have area code 416, with 647-numbers allocated disproportionately to a growing mobile telephone market and to competitive local exchange carriers, such as cable and voice-over-IP services.
The competitive local exchange carriers in numbering plan area are Rogers Communications, Telus, and some independent companies.
[4] It comprised most of the populous Golden Horseshoe region in southern Ontario, from Colborne to Niagara Falls to Kitchener-Waterloo.
Ontario and Quebec were the only provinces to be assigned multiple area codes at the inception of the continent-wide telephone numbering plan.
By the late 1980s, however, 416 was close to exhaustion because of the GTA's continued growth and Canada's inefficient number allocation system.
All competing carriers are assigned 10,000-number blocks, which correspond roughly to a single prefix, in each rate centre in which it plans to offer service, regardless of its actual subscriber count.
The GTA's rapid growth in telecommunication services, and the proliferation of cell phones, fax machines, and pagers, demanded more central offices, with another area code for the Golden Horseshoe soon becoming necessary.
Toronto's size and status as a single rate centre have caused numbers to tend to be used up fairly quickly.
Since the implementation of area code 647, overlays have become the preferred solution for exhaustion relief in Canada, as it does not require renumbering existing subscriber accounts.
As of 2013, the following points in area code 905 were a local call to 416 in 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.
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).
[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.
[14] Toronto rapper Maestro Fresh Wes rendered homage to the area code in his 1998 song "416/905 (TO Party Anthem)".
[15] Drake has also released his fourth studio album, titled Views, referring to the 416 and 647 area codes.
Toronto numbers that were converted from 2L-4N format, or from manual service, include: 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).
