Phone prefixes in Meadow Lake, SK

In numbers

In-service prefixes

7

Telephone numbers covered

70,000

Carriers

5

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

June 13, 2002

Most recent assignment

April 26, 2017

Meadow Lake’s share of its area codes

Within area code 306, Meadow Lake accounts for only 5 of 777 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Saskatoon and spread over 228 rate centres. Within area code 639, Meadow Lake accounts for only 2 of 776 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Regina and spread over 202 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

SaskTel holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 28.6% of the total, ahead of 4 other carriers. Code by code: in 306, SaskTel leads with 2 of 5 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 639, Access Communications Co-operative Limited leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Meadow Lake’s 2 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

4 of Meadow Lake’s 7 prefixes (57.1%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: SaskTel Mobility, Bell Mobility and TELUS Mobility. That makes this a mostly mobile rate centre, which is typical of recent allocations: new prefixes go overwhelmingly to cellphones. This is a sort by name, not a licence lookup, and a mobile prefix may have been ported to another network since.

How the allocation was built up

Meadow Lake’s dated assignments run from 2002 to 2017. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 2 prefixes (29%) 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 Meadow Lake is flat.

Meadow Lake’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to SaskTel and SaskTel Mobility: these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to SaskTel in 2002. The most recent arrivals are Access Communications Co-operative Limited (2017), Bell Mobility (2016) and TELUS Mobility (2010), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Meadow Lake.

Meadow Lake has just 7 prefixes (70,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Meadow Lake: the leader, SaskTel, holds only 28.6% of the prefixes against 4 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 2 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Meadow Lake numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Meadow Lake number

Meadow Lake is served by 2 overlaid area codes (306 and 639). A 639 number is no more “out of town” than a 306 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Meadow Lake shares area codes 306 and 639 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, North Battleford, Yorkton, Swift Current and Moosomin. The largest of them, Regina, holds 157 prefixes in 306 and 639; the smallest on the list, Rosthern, has just 12.

What a Meadow Lake number tells you

A number attached to Meadow Lake tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Saskatchewan, most often SaskTel. It does not tell you where the handset is today: most of Meadow Lake’s prefixes are mobile, and a cellphone keeps its number when its owner moves across the country. Nor does it tell you who is calling: caller ID can be spoofed, and a Saskatchewan area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Meadow Lake: code 306-234 is recorded for SaskTel, so every 306-234-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Meadow Lake prefix

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

Had a call from a Meadow Lake 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 7 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Saskatchewan