Area code 514 along with its overlay code 438 have been assigned to Montreal and its on-island suburbs in the NANP (North American Numbering Plan). These suburbs include Île Perrot in the Quebec province and Island of Montreal. It is one of the most initial area codes introduced by AT&T way back in the year 1947. Then this original NPA (Numbering Plan Area) was split two times, once in 1957 when area code 819 was created and then in 1998 when area code 450 was created. In 2006, 10-digit calling system became mandatory in Montreal and this was the time when overlay code 438 was created and assigned to 514.
The ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier) for this area is Bell Canada and other main Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLEC) are Telus, Vidéotron, and Rogers. In the original scheme of things, the calls used to be handled manually by operators. First local numbers were assigned in the year 1881.
The numbers used to be only 4-digit during that time. Then in 1898, four exchanges names (Main, Uptown, East & Westmount) were added before any number used to be dialed. It was the year 1925, when first rotary dial exchange was deployed. Its name was Lancaster. If a user had to dial a number, e.g. 6666, they used to dial first two digits of exchange name and then four digits of number (2L-4N), so the Lancaster 6666 became – LA6666.
It was the year 1947 when initial area codes were introduced as routing codes for calls which used to be handled by operators. Ontario & Quebec were the only two provinces which were assigned multiple area codes. At that time Quebec was split between 514 and 418 area codes. The entire western half of Quebec from one side of Canada US border to other side of Hudson strait was assigned 514. This was not much populated area and included most of the remote regions in the far northern side of the province. Then came the Bell’s DDD (Direct Distance Dialing) which had seven digit local telephone numbers with a prefix of 3 digit area code. The other two biggest cities of Canada, Montreal and Toronto were still using six digit (2L-4N) dialing system. Gradually between 1951 to 1958, all the 6 digit numbers were changed to 7 digit numbers (3L-4N) so that it becomes compatible with the rest.
For the most part of western Quebec (from Estrie, Sherbrooke to Ontario border), the area code 514 was further split to create 819 area code in the year 1957. Area code 514 was left only for the region surrounded by Montreal. At the inception when original area code was assigned, the authorities did not anticipate that population of the Montreal would rise at a rapid pace this soon.
This caused a continuous growing demand of new telephone numbers and because of which another overlay code 450 was introduced in 1998. Proliferation of telephonic technologies, cell phones, pagers and fixed landline numbers caused another overlay of area code 438 in the year 2006 due to exhaustion.
Some key facts about area code 905
Area: It primarily serves the city of Montreal, Quebec in Canada.
Major Cities: Pointe Claire (QC), Ile Perrot (QC), Montreal (QC), Lachine (QC), Saint Genevieve (QC)
Canada’s Dialing Code: +1 is the dialing code of Canada.
Time-zone: This area code is located in the eastern time zone also known as America/New_York. It follows EST (Eastern Standard Time) and from mid-march to early November, it follows EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) when daylight saving time is observed. Standard Time is GMT – 5.00 hours & Daylight saving time is +1:00 hour.
Introduction date: It came into existence on the 1st January 1947.
Nearby Area Codes: 450, 579 for Granby, QC and 819, 873 for Sherbrooke, QC
Landline v/s Wireless Ratio: Landline holds slightly major share of 55% whereas 45% share is with the wireless.
Assigned v/s Non-Assigned Ratio: There are only 2% are available to be assigned and 98% are already assigned.