Ontario is getting a new area code as demand for phone numbers grows

Ontario residents will soon start to see the area code "382" pop up on their phones as the demand for new telephone numbers continues to grow across the province.

The new addition joins the already familiar area codes of 519, 226, and 548 in southwestern Ontario, and officially came into effect on Saturday, June 17. 

The new area code was introduced by the Canadian Numbering Administrator, which is the corporation responsible for administering Canada's telecommunication numbering resources, and is regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 

The decision was intended to "meet the continuously growing demand for new telephone numbers," as more and more items, like parking metres, vending machines, and traffic lights communicate on wired networks. 

The introduction of the new area code doesn't impact the current 905 area codes or the ones in the GTA, including 416, 647, or 437. 

The area code will be "introduced gradually," and numbers starting with 382 will only be assigned to telephone users once there is no longer a sufficient supply of numbers with the existing area codes. 

In 1953, the area code 519 was created by a split of two numbering plan areas (NPAs) from the western portion of 416 and the southwestern portion of 613.  In response to increasing demand, the area code 226 was introduced in 2006, followed by 548 in 2016.