NANP (North American Number Plan) for the Golden Horseshoe area has assigned Area code 905 to the southern Ontario region which is surrounded by Lake Ontario in Canada. It has areas like Niagara Peninsula, Hamilton city, other local municipalities of Peel, York, Halton, Durham, and some portion of Northumberland County. It does not include any part of the city of Toronto but rather the surrounding area of the city. For area code 905, the incumbent local exchange carrier is Bell Canada.
Area code 905 was formed in the year 1993 in one area code split from another area code 416 and also forms an overlay plan. On the 9th of June in the year 2001, an overlay code 289 was also introduced. This was the time when authorities mandated 10 digit calling system even for the local numbers. CRTC (Canadian Radio-television & Telecommunications Commission) introduced another overlay code area code 365 on the 13th of April 2010 and it got fully operational on 25th March 2013.
This numbering plan area covers the surrounding area of the city of Toronto which has three other area codes 416, 647, and 437. This is the reason why residents of Toronto also often refer to the surrounding area of the city as the ‘905 belt’ or ‘the 905’. On the western side, it is also bound by 519, 226, and 548 overlay areas. On the northern side, it has 705, 249, and 683 overlay areas and the eastern side has 613 and 343 areas. Eastern prong of the Niagara peninsula has New York state area code 716.
Generally, the terms ‘905 belt’ or ‘the 905’ are often referred to describe the suburban region of Greater Toronto. On the other hand, the proper city of Toronto is referred to as 416. The residents of Toronto city also call the residents of the suburban area outside the city ‘the 905er’ as they live in the ‘905 belt’. These terms also find a context in Canadian politics where 416 is used to refer to the liberals and NDP, on the other hand, 905 (other than Hamilton) finds its ties with PCP (Progressive Conservative Party).
Not many people are aware of the fact this area code was once allotted to Mexico City when it was expected to be a member of NANP (North American Numbering Plan). However, later Mexico formed its numbering plan, and a new country code was assigned to it as +52. The original allocation of 905 was then later withdrawn by the authorities on 1st February 1991. In the same year by October, area code 905 was reassigned to exchanges in the Golden Horseshoe area. It is still Canada’s biggest toll-free calling zone
Some key facts about area code 905
Cities
It primarily serves the surrounding area of the city of Toronto and covers cities like Ancaster (ON), Caledon East (ON), Port Perry (ON), Tottenham (ON), Georgetown (ON), etc.
Canada’s Dialling 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: GMT – 5.00 hours
Daylight saving time: +1:00 hour
Introduction date:
It came into existence on the 4th of October, 1993.
Nearby Area Codes:
226, 519, 548 for London, ON / 249, 705 for Sudbury, ON / 289, 365, 905 for Hamilton, ON / 343, 613 for Ottawa, ON / 416, 437, 647 for Toronto, ON / 585 for Rochester, NY / 607 for Binghamton, NY / 716 for Buffalo, NY etc.
Landline v/s Wireless Ratio:
Landline holds a major share of 80% whereas 20% share is with the wireless.
Assigned v/s Non-Assigned Ratio:
There are only 3% are available to be assigned and 97% are already assigned.