iPhone directory for Ontario, Canada?

July 24, 2009 9:18 AM

I need to find a directory for the iphone in Ontario. I don't know much about cell phones (it's an iPhone he has, in case that narrows it down) and I need to reach my brother. Googling just leads to a confusing advertising no man's land that I don't have any time to sift through now.

We've had a family emergency and no one has his cell number on them and he doesn't have a land line. We have to leave shortly and I was hoping someone here could point me to a directory.

posted by bonobothegreat to computers & internet (14 comments total)

To be clear, you're looking for your brother's cell phone number, in Ontario? I don't believe you'll be able to find it - my understanding is that Canada, like the US, doesn't have a phone number directory for cell phones.

Who makes the phone isn't relevant, and the fact that it's an iPhone won't matter.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 9:24 AM on July 24

There are not directories for certain models of phones. Do you have an email address for him? Possibly he has set up his iphone to receive emails.
posted by dfriedman at 9:26 AM on July 24

If Canada is anything like it neighbor to the south, there is no directory for people's mobile phone numbers. Your brother would need to list his number with some directory service, or a data scraper would need to be able to collect it. If that info existed just Googling his name would come up with a number.

It doesn't matter what kind of mobile phone a person has, only what their carrier is. In Canada the iPhone was sold by Rogers. Maybe, being family, they might give you his number due to the emergency.
posted by birdherder at 9:26 AM on July 24

You want a list of all the iphones in Ontario, so you can look thru it to find your brother? Such a list is unlikely to exist in a publicly available form. In the US, cell phones aren't listed in directory assistance, though sometimes in reverse phone lookup systems, I recall Canada being similar.

You could certainly try to call Rogers (the iphone service provider of canada) and try to social engineer his number out of them.
posted by nomisxid at 9:30 AM on July 24

Do you know where he works? Call his work and either get the number from them (if he's traveling, and they may not give it to you anyway) or have them pass the message along.
posted by rtha at 9:34 AM on July 24

Like someone above said, an email will often be as effective in reaching a person with an iphone as a phone call would be, so try that if you have his personal email account.
posted by brainmouse at 9:36 AM on July 24

The CRTC has been ruling for about the last 12 years that cell phone companies can't list your cell number in a directory unless you ask them to. This is mainly because you have to pay for calls you receive, and therefore the only control you have over those calls is based on controlling distribution of your number.

So, not only is such a directory unlikely to exist, it would be illegal for it to exist.
posted by FishBike at 9:37 AM on July 24 [1 favorite]

If you are connected to him on Facebook he might list his phone # there.
posted by mikepop at 9:42 AM on July 24

I'd email him. If he has an iPhone he's probably checking his mail from it.
posted by chunking express at 9:57 AM on July 24

Thanks everybody. Yes, I was looking for a Whitepages sort of directory. I'll try to see if I can get a line through to him at his workplace.
posted by bonobothegreat at 10:01 AM on July 24

The fact that he has an iPhone does matter in that, I believe, Rogers is the only carrier. That isn't going to get you a whitepages, but it may mean that if you contact their customer service and explain it is a family emergency they might try texting or calling him foryou, even if they won't give you the number. Good luck.
posted by Good Brain at 5:12 PM on July 24

I have an iPhone and i'm with Fido. Fido is owned by Rogers, but they operate as independent companies, as far as I can tell.
posted by chunking express at 6:51 PM on July 24

Do you know his address?

Have something delivered via taxi, or a delivered pizza - with a message.
posted by jkaczor at 1:44 PM on July 26

Thanks again everyone. I was was able to reach him through his work. I only had a vague idea that he worked at one of the branches of a business in our area but I got lucky on the second try.
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:31 AM on July 27