Some interesting area code history. There were originally 86 of them in North America in 1947. Ontario received two of them, 416 covering the south central and south western portions of the province. 613 covered the balance of Ontario. In 1953 519 was created for the southwest. in 1957, 705 was introduced for the area more commonly known as Cottage Country. In 1962, the northwestern portion received 807. Things stayed that way until the 905/416 split in 1993.

newsguy1 wrote:

After decades I still remember the very first telephone number I ever had in the house I grew up in in Vancouver.
It was Regent 3-6134 -- in other words 73-6134.
My parents taught me the number when I was about six years old.
They told me to always answer the phone with, not "hello," but "This is Regent 3 6134."
of course no area code was necessary although Vancouver's main area code has been 604 for many years now. plus seven numbers.
In the Vancouver museum located in the HR McMillan planterium,there is a fascinating exhibit where you can pick up an old telephone receiver from the 1950s and dial a number from a telephone book the museum devised.
Each phone number is matched with a different aspect of Vancouver history in the form of a recording you listen to through the phone receiver.
What a great idea.


 

 
My mom always told me never to give out the phone number to a caller, especially if they were calling the wrong number.  She said some nefarious people, when told they had dialed the wrong number, would ask what number they called. I was told to ask "what number are you calling?". Then I would confirm that they indeed did dialed the wrong number.

newsguy1 wrote:

I might have grown up in a more innocent time.
And Vancouver was still pretty small townish in my childhood.
We could walk up to the milkman's truck and ask him if he could drop us off at at school.
 

 
I grew up in a small town in PEI.  Our phone number was only 4 digits. But Mom was always safety first.  It taught me well when I moved to the Big Smoke as a young, single woman.

Here's the list for Ontario. Have to say I wasn't familiar with 226, 249, 343 or 365. Looks like this list will need updating soon. (Nice to know I'm not the only one who geeks out on stuff like this.)

Ontario area codes

About my childhood RE phone number, you are right RE stood for the first two numbers, 7-3.
I'm not sure why my mother told me to answer the phone with our phone number.
She was British so may that was a Brit thing.
But we definitely lived in Vancouver, not Burnaby.
In those days parents used to threaten that if their kids didn't behave they would be sent to Burnaby!
 

Marsden wrote:

Not sure why I remember that - and don't remember why I went into a particular room. 

As for going into a room and forgetting why, been there, done that.

At least I think I remember being there and doing that...

With apologies to Lorne's wonderful Oldies Music Board, where I stole this:

newsguy1 wrote:

But we definitely lived in Vancouver, not Burnaby.
In those days parents used to threaten that if their kids didn't behave they would be sent to Burnaby!
 

Understood. Back in the dark mists of land-line time, local exchange phone numbers (such as REgent) were tied to a geographic area. If you moved too far out of that neighbourhood, you were required to get a new phone number associated with the exchange that was local to your new neighbourhood.

Now, however, you can move to a different province while maintaining not only your exchange number, but your area code as well, at least with mobile or VOIP phone lines.

By the way, the current holder of your parents' old number does indeed live in Burnaby, and is registered with Telus.

Peter the K wrote:

I'm guessing it's done by pressing the button on the hook the required number of times for each digit with a pause in between.
 

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Everyone remember that when you're held hostage in a room with a no-dial phone.
 

Last edited by Dial Twister (May 10, 2023 5:48 pm)

I did not know about the payphones.

Just jidging by the mechanical nature of old phones, that was actually a guess on my part.  I've never actually dialed a number this way but explains the old hollywood trope of tapping on the receiver to get the operator.

RadioActive wrote:

Marsden wrote:

Not sure why I remember that - and don't remember why I went into a particular room. 

As for going into a room and forgetting why, been there, done that.

At least I think I remember being there and doing that...

With apologies to Lorne's wonderful Oldies Music Board, where I stole this:

Truth be told - it's really embarrassing when the room I walked into is the bathroom. But wait I already had my shower....lol 
 

RadioActive wrote:

(If we need a new area code so badly, why are they waiting almost two years?) 

It is estimated that all the Bell payphones that are no longer in service in Toronto have numbers that are still good to max out.
The idea is to be ready, even if there are still some old former payphone numbers available for use.
Also, TTC Timeline schedule used to use up the whole 539 exchange. 
This meant that in the 416 area code, dialing 539, plus any 4 digits got you a bus stop number, telling you when the next bus would arrive at that location.  
When that went obsolete it freed up a whole 539 exchange in the 416 area code.
Some of those numbers are now FAX numbers, while many are still "number not in service". 
By 2025, it is estimated that there will not be any absent from use in some form...even though I argue that in 2025
there may also be a lot less people faxing....but who knows???

A classic photo of a TTC Timeline number on a TTC bus stop pole: 
Ironically, the number in the pic did not go to a fax machine. It is one of the many currently not in service...

Last edited by Radiowiz (May 11, 2023 2:22 am)

Another reason for the continued expansion in the number of phone numbers is the use of call tracking in marketing. This has existed for many years but has exploded in use in the digital age. For example, ad agencies selling billboards or various online advertising solutions use special phone numbers to help track the number of calls originating from these campaigns, to help gauge success (or failure) of the campaign. The ad company I work for owns thousands  of these numbers, and virtually all of them are actually used. The idea is that you’re calling a local number that forwards to the business’s regular number.

Last edited by MJ Vancouver (May 11, 2023 7:48 pm)

Explanation of Toronto exchanges

[url]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_codes_416,_647,_and_437#:~:text=Toronto's%20original%20telephone%20exchanges%20were,dial%20telephones%20one%20year%20later.[/url]