Area codes 705, 249, and 683 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for most of northeastern and central Ontario in Canada.
Ontario received two area codes, 416 and 613, in the initial configuration of the first continental telephone numbering plan in 1947.
Area code 705 was in danger of exhaustion, but creating a new area code was need to improve call routing from Manitoba and the rest of Western Canada to northwestern Ontario.
[2] The Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium had considered "erasing" the 807-705 boundary and turning 807 into an overlay for all of northern Ontario, which would have effectively reversed the 1962 split, but did not recommend the idea for fear of potential confusion.
[3] The incumbent local exchange carriers in 705/249 are Bell Canada, Northern Telephone, Bell Aliant (Ontera), Eastlink, and some municipally-owned carriers.