Area codes 905, 289, and 365


Area codes 905, 289, and 365 are area codes in the North American Numbering Plan in the Golden Horseshoe region that surrounds Lake Ontario in Southern Ontario, Canada. It covers the Niagara Peninsula, the city of Hamilton, the regional municipalities of Halton, Peel, York, Durham, and parts of Northumberland County, but excludes the City of Toronto. 905 is the main area code, while 289 and 365 are overlay codes covering the same territory.
Area code 905 was assigned on October 4, 1993, as a split from area code 416. After 289 was overlaid on June 9, 2001, all local calls required ten-digit dialling. On April 13, 2010, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission introduced the overlay area code 365, which became operational on March 25, 2013. The three area codes are expected to become exhausted by March 2023.
The plan area surrounds the overlay area codes 416/647/437, which cover the city of Toronto, leading residents to popularly coin suburban Toronto as "the 905". It is bound by area code 519/226/548 in the west, 705/249 in the north, 613/343 in the east, and New York State area code 716 on the eastern prong of the Niagara Peninsula. The incumbent local exchange carrier for these area codes is Bell Canada.

History

Area code 905 was once used as a routing prefix for calls from the United States to Mexico during a period when Mexico was expected to become a member of the North American Numbering Plan Administration and international calls otherwise would have been placed through a switchboard operator. However, Mexico decided to establish its own numbering plan as an independent administration. The use of 905 was discontinued by February 1, 1991.
By October 1991, area code 905 had been assigned to relieve exchanges in the Greater Toronto Area—which, then as now, was Canada's largest toll-free calling zone. While the Golden Horseshoe's explosive growth in the second half of the 20th century would have made another area code necessary in any event, the timetable was moved up significantly due to Canada's inefficient system of number allocation. Canada does not use number pooling as a relief measure. Instead, each CLEC is assigned blocks of 10,000 numbers–usually corresponding to a single three-digit prefix–for every rate centre where it plans to offer service, no matter how small. While most rate centres don't need nearly that many numbers, a number is unavailable for reassignment elsewhere once assigned to a CLEC and rate centre. This resulted in thousands of unallocated numbers.
The problem was not as severe in the Golden Horseshoe as in the rest of Canada; then as now, numbers tended to be used up fairly quickly. However, the proliferation of cell phones, pagers, fax machines, and dial-up Internet connections meant that the Golden Horseshoe needed another area code. It is very likely that the immediate need for an area code would have been staved off had it been possible to reallocate numbers from the Golden Horseshoe's smaller rate centres to Toronto.
Automatic number identification in some central office switching systems in the numbering plan area started operation on October 11, 1992. The new area code entered service on October 11, 1993. Permissive dialing of 416 continued across the Golden Horseshoe until January 1, 1994.
The creation of 905 was intended as a long-term solution. However, just five years after its introduction, 905 was close to exhaustion far sooner than anticipated, again due to the number allocation problem and the proliferation of cell phones and pagers. By 1999, the CRTC had established an ad-hoc committee to study NPA relief planning for area code 905. A split of the NPA was considered, with various options presented:
The overlay option was chosen because it would cause the least disruption; it would require no changes for existing customers in the 905 area. It would also be far easier to implement technically. Bell and the area's other carriers were especially supportive of an overlay. Not only would a split have forced customers to change their numbers for the second time in less than a decade, but it would have forced en masse reprogramming of cell phones. For the same reason, Toronto itself was overlaid with area code 647.
The 289 NPA overlay was approved by the CRTC on August 15, 2000. Earlier that month, Toufic Saliba, consultant and technical engineer at the Commission, directed the addition of area code 289 in the 905 area code region. In doing so, Saliba directed that all carriers put in place a 10-digit dialing plan for all local calls. In this order, the Commission directed Bell Canada to implement the 10-digit local dialing plan. 289 came into service on April 7, 2001, and was in full operation by June 9, 2001.
905 officially became exhausted in November 2005, 12 years after its creation. All new central office prefixes are assigned in 289, as there are no longer any available prefixes in 905. Part of the problem stemmed from the creation of single-tier "megacities" across Ontario at the turn of the millennium. Many of these enlarged cities are split between multiple rate centres which have never been amalgamated. An example is Hamilton, Canada's 10th-largest city; it is split between nine rate centres. This also applies to newer cities created prior to the introduction of the 905 code. For example, Mississauga, the largest city in the NPA—and the sixth-largest city in all of Canada—is split between five rate centres, even though it has been a single municipality since 1974, although there is a single Mississauga listing in the phone book. Another example is Vaughan, which is split between three rate centres and part of a fourth even though it has been a single municipality since 1971. Unlike Mississauga, Vaughan is not even listed in the phone book, but lists the various rate centres separately.
Due to the Golden Horseshoe's continued growth, area code 365 was assigned for further relief on March 25, 2013, and area code 742 has been set aside for further relief as the area is expected to exhaust by 2023 at current growth rates.

In popular culture

The term the 905 or the 905 belt is used to describe the suburban areas of the Greater Toronto Area, while Toronto proper is referred to as the 416. The term 905er is often used pejoratively by Toronto residents to refer to suburban residents outside the city. Canadian rapper Maestro rendered homage to the area code in his song "416/905 ". In June 2015, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment announced the formation of an NBA Development League team for the Toronto Raptors based in Mississauga called Raptors 905.
The term has been used in the context of Canadian politics, where the 416 is a stronghold of Liberals and NDP, whereas the 905 historically had strong ties to the Progressive Conservative Party. The region has, however, backed opposition parties as a protest vote, including both the NDP in the 1990 provincial election and the Liberals in the 2003 provincial election, as a backlash to the incumbent government. In both cases, the opposition party was elected to government with strong backing of the 905 region. The 2011 federal election saw the 905 region become predominately represented by candidates of the Conservative Party of Canada, while one third of the 416 ridings were won by Conservatives, many through vote splitting between the Liberals and NDP. In the 2019 federal election, the Liberals successfully held all 25 ridings in the 416, which they won in 2015. However, the parties were fighting over control over the 905 as historically, winning the 905 is key to parties forming government. In the end, most 905 ridings were won by the Liberals over the Conservatives. The Liberals ultimately beat the Conservatives and formed a minority government with the support of the 905.

Rate centres and central office codes