New Area Code 343 for Ottawa

[Mille Sabords]

An interesting power point slide show (pasted below) shows the various options to relieve Area Code 613 once it runs out of numbers in 2011. Either a split (with Ottawa keeping or giving up 613) or an overlay, is still up in the air. But the new area code will be 343.

http://www.cnac.ca/npa_codes/relief/...f_10-13-07.ppt

[Mille Sabords]

Here is the link where the identity of our new Area Code is finally revealed:

http://www.cnac.ca/npa_codes/relief/...4_DEC_2007.doc

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

So in other words, I'll need to dial 343-613-***-****?!

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

I think Ottawa proper should keep 613 and anything outside the greenbelt is 343...

[Mille Sabords]

Originally Posted by Jamaican-Phoenix

So in other words, I'll need to dial 343-613-***-****?!

No. If they split the Eastern Ontario area that now has 613 under one of the various options, more than likely Ottawa would keep 613 and the outer regions would get 343. But it looks as though we'll have the new code as an overlay on the entire territory of 613, which means once 613 runs out of numbers you'll get a 343 number, so your next door neighbour can have a 613-NNN-NNNN number and you'll have the new 343-NNN-NNNN number.

[AuxTown]

That's retarded! Let the city have their 613 and the people in the rural areas (much less population) can change to the new area code.

[clynnog]

Originally Posted by Mille Sabords

No. If they split the Eastern Ontario area that now has 613 under one of the various options, more than likely Ottawa would keep 613 and the outer regions would get 343. But it looks as though we'll have the new code as an overlay on the entire territory of 613, which means once 613 runs out of numbers you'll get a 343 number, so your next door neighbour can have a 613-NNN-NNNN number and you'll have the new 343-NNN-NNNN number.

My parents are in 905 yet their cell # is 289. 289 is an 'overlay' of 905 and it seems to work fine. It really isn't that big of a deal to have df't area codes in the same town. London, England has had it for 10+ years whereby inner London has a df't area code than outer London. Theoretically, adjoining streets could have df't area codes.

A sign of the times here in Ottawa is that in the last few years the 2nd digit in your exchange can now be a "0" or a "1"....these two 2nd digits were the last digits to be released.

Trivia question time...which area of Ontario has a Quebec telephone exchange and which area of Quebec has an Ontario telephone exchange.

[Mille Sabords]

Originally Posted by clynnog

Trivia question time...which area of Ontario has a Quebec telephone exchange and which area of Quebec has an Ontario telephone exchange.

OK - telephone numbering trivia time! Here's a possible answer: would it be all the federal government buildings that have dual-diallable numbers in both 613 and 819 area codes?

[vid]

CNAC doesn't separate them by area anymore, they just add overlays.

Another thing they stopped doing is geographically sorted local number codes. My phone number starts with 766, but I live more than 6 miles away from the town that the 76x numbers were originally assigned to years ago. :/ You can no longer tell where people live by their telephone number. I miss that.

Just think of it as an extra part of the phone number. Instead of 566-xxxx, it's 343-xxxxxxx.

And before you say that's hard to remember, in Britain, their telephone numbers are usually something along the lines of "+049899388543". So, buck up.

[clynnog]

Originally Posted by Mille Sabords

OK - telephone numbering trivia time! Here's a possible answer: would it be all the federal government buildings that have dual-diallable numbers in both 613 and 819 area codes?

Wrong...I believe with the feds in Ottawa a persons phone # can be one of those 613 992 or something like that #'s, yet their phone location can switch between downtown Ottawa and downtown Hull.

[Mille Sabords]

Originally Posted by clynnog

Wrong...I believe with the feds in Ottawa a persons phone # can be one of those 613 992 or something like that #'s, yet their phone location can switch between downtown Ottawa and downtown Hull.

Right... so that a 613 992-NNNN number can also be dialed as 819 992-NNNN which is especially relevant now with 10d dialing. Those number prefixes have been reserved for the Feds and they haven't been given out in either 613 or 819 for decades.

So what's the answer then?

[harls]

Some gov't offices in Hull have postal codes starting with "K"

..but I digress. we be talking phone numbers here.

[clynnog]

Originally Posted by clynnog

Trivia question time...which area of Ontario has a Quebec telephone exchange and which area of Quebec has an Ontario telephone exchange.

There are a few streets technically in the Township of East Hawkesbury (but really part of the QC community of Point Fortune, QC) that have 450 exhanges. If you drive down chemin Interprovinciale (the name gives itself away) leading from exit 1 on Autoroute 40, you'll see that houses on the west side are in Ont and on the east side they are in QC.

St. Regis, QC uses 613 575 which is an Ontario exchange. This community is part of the Cornwall area Indian reserve, but is only accessible via Hogansburg, NY (with no customs, border crossing etc). It is technically part of QC, but when I was last there all the cars on the driveway have Ontario plates. It is a strange enclave. When you leave St. Regis, QC, you are in the US and you need to go through the US to get anywhere else in QC or Ont. Snye, QC is not accessible from St. Regis, QC.

[Mille Sabords]

Originally Posted by clynnog

There are a few streets technically in the Township of East Hawkesbury (but really part of the QC community of Point Fortune, QC) that have 450 exhanges. If you drive down chemin Interprovinciale (the name gives itself away) leading from exit 1 on Autoroute 40, you'll see that houses on the west side are in Ont and on the east side they are in QC.

St. Regis, QC uses 613 575 which is an Ontario exchange. This community is part of the Cornwall area Indian reserve, but is only accessible via Hogansburg, NY (with no customs, border crossing etc). It is technically part of QC, but when I was last there all the cars on the driveway have Ontario plates. It is a strange enclave. When you leave St. Regis, QC, you are in the US and you need to go through the US to get anywhere else in QC or Ont. Snye, QC is not accessible from St. Regis, QC.

Fascinating. Even more so because I know about Point Roberts in BC, which is a US enclave (a peninsula), which can only be accessed by Canadian soil, but I didn't know about this, which is my back yard.

Telephone exchanges don't follow any conventional boundaries - the CNAC document shows that even if they split the 613 area code along lines that come closest to Ottawa City Limits, there will still be little bits and pieces here and there that stick out or in. It may simply have to do with the way the cables are laid out.

[clynnog]

Originally Posted by Mille Sabords

Fascinating. Even more so because I know about Point Roberts in BC, which is a US enclave (a peninsula), which can only be accessed by Canadian soil, but I didn't know about this, which is my back yard.

A simple trip to the casino on the US side of the reserve would be a good excuse (if that is your sort of thing) and in a few minutes after crossing over at Cornwall you would be crossing again into St. Regis QC. It is also one of the few places where you can make a local call from Canada to the US. You can't do that in Cornwall, Niagara Falls, Prescott or places like that.

[clynnog]

Originally Posted by Mille Sabords

Telephone exchanges don't follow any conventional boundaries - the CNAC document shows that even if they split the 613 area code along lines that come closest to Ottawa City Limits, there will still be little bits and pieces here and there that stick out or in. It may simply have to do with the way the cables are laid out.

Until the recent boundary changes for where a free call could be made it was LD from Kanata to North Gower or Manotick or Aylmer but a free call to the furthest reaches of Beacon Hill or Arnprior or Carleton Place. With the recent surcharge most of Ottawa is on an even keel. With most cell phones in the Ottawa region assigned to an Ottawa/Hull # the number of people making these relatively short LD calls in the 613 will be on the decline. Calling cards also help to reduce the LD charges.

I still remember dealing with a small municipality in eastern Ontario who wouldn't return my calls as it would mean making an LD call. They would wait for me to call after a day or so of them not returning the calls I had originally made to them. Obviously not a cutting edge 'we're open for business' kind of place.

[waterloowarrior]

staff report on projected exhaust of 613 area code

I have a 226 number here in KW... a little annoying sometimes because I start saying the number and they've already typed/written 519-226-.... before they realize 226 is the area code.

[Mille Sabords]

Obviously, they are taking the "safe" approach that we don't want to piss off our neighbours and we don't want to piss off the telecom companies that would have to spend so much more money doing a split...

I will always think that a territory as big as the one covered by 613 ought to be split and the logical way to do it is Ottawa/The Rest. It's not "discrimination" (since when does having a certain area code make an area "inferior"??), it's just logic: most of the demand for new numbers comes from Ottawa. Split Ottawa out into its own as a first step, and then when Ottawa exhausts again, THEN you can overlay the hell out of it (and leave The Rest alone without the confusion of two or three area codes).

But I guess it's not really that big a deal...............

[eemy]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

staff report on projected exhaust of 613 area code

I have a 226 number here in KW... a little annoying sometimes because I start saying the number and they've already typed/written 519-226-.... before they realize 226 is the area code.

Me too. Ditto on the annoyance. I kind of like it though.

[clynnog]

Originally Posted by Mille Sabords

I will always think that a territory as big as the one covered by 613 ought to be split and the logical way to do it is Ottawa/The Rest.

By Ottawa do you mean the "City" of Ottawa, the Ottawa portion of the Ottawa-Gatineau CMA or the area that can currently call "Ottawa" phone numbers w/o LD charges. For the "City" of Ottawa route there are problems as people near Arnprior, Kemptville, etc, who are technically in the "City" of Ottawa typically have phone # exchanges that are also assigned to areas outside the "City" of Ottawa. (i.e people in the 'City' of Ottawa near Arnprior have 613 623 exchange #'s just like regular Arnprior folks yet there is no easy way to determine from the last 4 digits on a 613 623 whether or not they live in Arnprior proper or Ottawa proper.

What about all new activations get the new area code within the current 613. Most of the growth is via cell #'s...fax/pager activations have died out these days, haven't they?