416 to the 942? Toronto's getting a new area code but some say nothing compares to the original

Toronto is about to get a new area code starting this weekend, but the head of a business that sells phone numbers says it will take some time for the three digits to resonate with the city.

Currently, Toronto uses area codes 416, 437 and 647. The new 942 area code will be introduced gradually to the city, beginning Saturday, says the Telecommunications Alliance, an organization of telecom service providers in Canada.

Sean Iovacchini, president of BeeFound Business Optimization Inc., which owns the online phone number store Number Shack, says it's not surprising that Toronto is getting a fourth area code. With the city growing, the demand for cell phone, landline and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) line numbers is growing too, he says.

But 942, however, doesn't strike a chord with him, at least not yet.

"The shocking part is just the number itself. It doesn't resonate with me. 416 is Toronto," Iovacchini said on Friday.

"There's so many new area codes. I hear them nowadays and I'm like, where is that? I have no idea. I have to go to Google and check where that area code is."

Number Shack has about 900 numbers in stock that begin with 416 area codes, ranging in price from $49 to $7,000 to $8,000. The more expensive numbers end in 0000, which are higher value because they are almost impossible to get, Iovacchini says.

For Toronto businesses, the 416 area code has credibility and suggests longevity, he says.

"With the 942, we've seen some increased sales recently this week specifically and there's not a day that goes by where we don't sell a 416 number."

Laura Cavanagh, a registered psychotherapist and psychology professor at Seneca Polytechnic in Toronto, says area codes are so much more now than simply a "geographic delineator" or a way to route calls because of the extent to which people rely on their cell phones in daily life.

"Our phones are more than just tools that we use, but really kind of a way to express our identity and possibly even like an extension of the self for many people," Cavanagh said.

Area codes have long been tied to identity: professor

Cavanagh says the idea of area codes being tied to identity isn't new.

When Toronto-born rapper Maestro Fresh Wes dropped his hit 416/905 in 1998, it was not only a "defining moment" for Toronto but also a way for the city "to feel cool in a way that we don't always get to feel," she said. And when rapper Drake referred to Toronto as "The 6" in his 2016 album originally called Views From The 6, she said it gave the city a new way to express its identity, with a number from its 416 area code.

"I think it's easy to forget that in some provinces and territories, there's only one or two area codes. And it can represent a huge area," she said. 

"But in really densely populated areas, the area code was like a marker of a really defined geographical location and was a way to express a shared identity. And it remains so, whether people know your phone number or not."

Cavanagh said she got a 647 number in 2008. 

"And it was like, oh my gosh, what is this? No one's even going to remember that. And now I'm hearing, almost 20 years later, that the 647 is considered cool," she said.

She added that "there isn't one sort of representative Torontonian" and the city's area codes reflect its diversity.

1 area code for over 7 million new phone numbers

After Saturday, consumers and businesses requesting a new phone number may receive one with the 942 area code.

The new area code comes after a 2023 decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that noted Toronto could exhaust all of its numbers under existing area codes by April 2026.

According to the Telecommunications Alliance, just one new area code allow for millions of new numbers.

"When phone numbers start to run out in certain areas, new area codes are created to meet demand. Adding a new area code enables more than seven million new phone numbers to be created!" the alliance says on its website.