The Canadian province of Ontario has been allocated the area code 807. When this region got split from the area code 705 in the year 1962, this area code was created and is primarily serving the Northwestern Ontario region. While generally the region split happens when the area code gets exhausted however in this case this was not the reason.
It was done mainly for the routing efficiency of the calls to Northwestern Ontario from the western Canada region. During those times, there weren’t any high-tech digital exchanges available that could help for achieving these routing efficiencies, and hence the new area code was created.
The entire region is divided chiefly into two time zones – central and eastern. The area code 807 has major communities in Dryden, Kenora, Rainy River, Fort Frances, Greenstone, and Marathon. The main incumbent local exchanges in the area are – Bell Canada, Tbaytel, and DMTS (Dryden Municipal Telephone Service) of Bell Aliant. There are other carriers like Bell Mobility, Exatel Inc, Iristel Inc, Kenora Municipal Telephone System, Fido Solutions Inc, Northerntel Limited Partnership (Mobility), Telus Mobility, etc which also are active in the area.
This is also one of the most lightly populated Canadian area codes and hence the CNAC (Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium) has estimated that it will take decades before the numbers in this area code get exhausted. Currently, the assigned to the non-assigned ratio of the area code is approximately 40%-60%.
During the initial years of the 21st century, the area code 705 was close to getting exhausted and that was the time when CNAC had considered removing the boundary between 705 and 805 area codes. They were planning to turn area code 807 into an overlay code for the entire region of northern Ontario along with the west of Golden Horseshoe.
However, authorities later felt that it will only create confusion among the people, and hence they had to drop the plan.
That’s the reason that area code 807 is the only area code in the whole country that does not have an overlay area code. It is also one of those rare area codes that still follow a 7-digit dialing scheme. Along with this, other area codes that follow the same dialing system are 867, 709, and 506.
The numbers in the area are not going to get exhausted soon yet authorities feel the need to implement the 10-digit dialing system in the area. This became all the more likely to get implemented when CRTC (Canadian Radio-television & Telecommunications Commission) recommended that the transition to a 3-digit code 988 should be done.
It is already getting used in the area code 807 as the national hotline number for suicide prevention as a local exchange. CRTC followed only the decision taken by US Federal Communications Commission that 988 should be used as a hotline number for national suicide prevention.
Key facts about area code 807
Area: It chiefly serves the entire province of Ontario (ON) in Canada (CA).
Major Cities: Dryden, Atikokan, Kenora, Rainy River, Fort Frances, Greenstone, Thunder Bay, and Marathon
Canada’s Dialling Code: Dialing code for Canada is +1.
Time-zone: There are two time zones for the area – the central time zone and the eastern time zone. Many also know it as America or New York time zone. From mid of March time early November, when daylight saving time is observed everywhere, it follows the Eastern Daylight Time / EDT. For the rest of the year this area follows Eastern Standard Time / EST. The standard time zone remains as GMT – 5.00 hours and there is a daylight saving time of + 1.00 hour.
Introduction date: It was introduced on the 1st of January, 1962.
Nearby Area Codes: Sudbury with 249 / 705 and Hamilton with 289 / 365 / 905 – the province remain the same.
Most Popular Pre-fixes in 807, 700, 788, 356, 355, 274, 345, 623, 629, 632, 622, 633, 767, 630, 407, 475, 577, 346, 344, 628, 626.