Toronto will soon have a fourth area code. The area code of 942 will join 416, 437 and 647 in serving Toronto. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approved the introduction of a new area code, which will gradually be assigned to new phone numbers beginning April 26, 2025.
“The introduction of a new area code creates millions of additional telephone numbers without affecting the existing numbers,” said Kelly T. Walsh, program manager of the Canadian Numbering Administrator, in a news release. “The new 942 area code will be added to the current area codes already in use in this region and will cover the same geographic area.
” As Torontonians get ready for the new area code, here’s a bit of history lesson on area codes. If you’ve ever watched “The Andy Griffith Show,” you’ll remember Sarah, a character who never appears on screen but whose name is mentioned often as she’s the town’s telephone operator. It was her job to patch callers together.
That’s how early telephone technology worked — local networks of telephones being patched together by local operators. If you needed to place a call outside your local network — as in a long-distance call — then multiple operators would need to be involved in making your call. According to BCE (formerly Bell Canada Enterprises), more than 2,000 of its customers in Montreal and Toronto were notified in 1884 that they would need to start making calls by phone number and not by name.
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