Phone prefixes in Hillsborough, NB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

4

Telephone numbers covered

40,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

1

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 28, 2005

Most recent assignment

September 10, 2019

Hillsborough’s share of its area code

Within area code 506, Hillsborough accounts for only 4 of 677 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Moncton and spread over 88 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Aliant Telecom(NB) holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 25.0% of the total, ahead of 3 other carriers. Code by code: in 506, Aliant Telecom(NB) leads with 1 of 4 prefixes ahead of 3 others.

Wireless and wireline

None of Hillsborough’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 4 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Aliant Telecom(NB), Distributel, Rogers Communications Canada Inc and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable). A call showing a Hillsborough number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Hillsborough’s dated assignments run from 2005 to 2019. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 1 prefixes (25%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. No prefix has been added since 2020: demand for numbers in Hillsborough is flat.

Hillsborough’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Aliant Telecom(NB): this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable) in 2005. The most recent arrivals are Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (2019), Distributel (2018) and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable) (2005), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Hillsborough.

Hillsborough has just 4 prefixes (40,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Hillsborough: the leader, Aliant Telecom(NB), holds only 25.0% of the prefixes against 3 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Allocation is mature: only 0.0% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Hillsborough numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Hillsborough number

A single area code, 506, covers Hillsborough, and it is not overlaid with any other code on this territory: one of the few parts of Canada where seven-digit local dialling may still work. From abroad, dial +1 506 and the seven-digit number.

The numbering neighbourhood

Hillsborough shares area code 506 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton, Miramichi, Bathurst, Edmundston, Campbellton and Tracadie. The largest of them, Moncton, holds 79 prefixes in 506; the smallest on the list, Petitcodiac, has just 9.

What a Hillsborough number tells you

A number attached to Hillsborough tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in New Brunswick, most often Aliant Telecom(NB). It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 4 carriers present here or to a VoIP service usable anywhere. Nor does it tell you who is calling: caller ID can be spoofed, and a New Brunswick area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Hillsborough: code 506-734 is recorded for Aliant Telecom(NB), so every 506-734-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Hillsborough, New Brunswick” there names a rate centre, not a municipality.

Every Hillsborough prefix

Each row is an in-service central-office code recorded for Hillsborough, with its original holder and year of assignment.

Had a call from a Hillsborough number?

No clear pattern in reports on these numbers yet. If a call worried you:

1. Call back on a number you trust

   If a caller says they are your bank, the Canada Revenue Agency, a courier or your phone company, hang up and call the organization on the number from its website or your statement, never the number that called you. Caller ID can be faked.

2. Report the fraud

   Report the call or text to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online or at 1-888-495-8501. If you lost money or gave out personal details, tell your bank first, then your local police.

   Report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre ↗

3. Register on the National Do Not Call List

   Registering a landline or mobile on the National DNCL is free. Registered charities, political parties, newspapers and companies you already do business with may still call.

   National Do Not Call List ↗Who can still call you ↗

4. Forward suspicious texts to 7726

   Forward a scam or spam text to 7726 (SPAM on the keypad). It's free, and your carrier uses it to block the sender. Don't tap links or reply.

   Get Cyber Safe: forwarding to 7726 ↗

Allocated prefixes

All 4 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in New Brunswick