Canada is part of Country Code 1 and participates in the North American Number Plan (NANP) with the USA and 17 Caribbean nations. The NANP structure consists of a single digit Country Code followed by a 10 digit number containing a 3 digit Number Plan Area (called an NPA or Area code), a 3 digit Central Office (CO) Code, and a 4 digit Line Number.
Canada has been adding area codes and Central Office codes. It is not unusual for me to come across an unfamiliar area code. To keep-up with these changes, I regularly download a CSV file (requires ZIP decompression utility) containing information for all NPAs in Canada.
If you don’t want to download the file you can go to the the CNA website (Canadian Number Administrator) to search out an area code or identify the carrier associated with a CO code which will identify those used by cell phones.
Trapcall will reveal the caller name and number when transmission of caller ID is blocked. If the party receiving the call on his mobile telephone subscribes to the free service, they will see the caller’s phone number. If the called party subscribes to the paid service, they will also receive the name of the caller. Trapcall is not available on all cell phone networks in the US, but it does work where it is available. I don’t know if it will work in Canada.
This is something to be aware of when calling subjects of an investigation or making pretext calls.
Dave Carpe at Passing Notes provides a good primer for the Researcher or Investigator who needs to record telephone interviews.
Investigators often need to conceal who is calling. These two Web sites can help with this.
craigsnumber.com assigns you a telephone number for up to one month. Calls to this number are forwarded to your telephone.
spooftel.com allows you to change the caller ID information that is displayed on the receipiant’s end.
craigsnumber.com is free, spooftel.com is not.