Phone prefixes in Minto

In numbers

In-service prefixes

6

Telephone numbers covered

60,000

Carriers

6

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

2

First assignment

June 23, 2005

Most recent assignment

September 21, 2022

Provinces and territories

This name is used for separate rate centres in 2 provinces. The prefixes below share a name in the CNAC register but belong to different communities.

• New Brunswick — 4 prefixes
• Manitoba — 2 prefixes

Minto’s share of its area codes

Within area code 506, Minto accounts for only 4 of 677 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Moncton and spread over 88 rate centres. Within area code 204, Minto accounts for only 1 of 781 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 245 rate centres. Within area code 431, Minto accounts for only 1 of 571 prefixes (0.2%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 146 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Aliant Telecom(NB) holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 16.7% of the total, ahead of 5 other carriers. Code by code: in 506, Aliant Telecom(NB) leads with 1 of 4 prefixes ahead of 3 others; MTS Inc. is the only holder in 204; Westman Media Cooperative Ltd is the only holder in 431. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Minto’s 3 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

1 of Minto’s 6 prefixes (16.7%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility Aliant. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Aliant Telecom(NB), Distributel, MTS Inc and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable). 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

Minto’s dated assignments run from 2005 to 2022. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 2 prefixes (33%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 1 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Minto’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Aliant Telecom(NB) and MTS Inc: these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bell Mobility Aliant in 2005. The most recent arrivals are Distributel (2022), Westman Media Cooperative Ltd (2019) and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable) (2010), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Minto.

Minto has just 6 prefixes (60,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Minto: the leader, Aliant Telecom(NB), holds only 16.7% of the prefixes against 5 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Demand remains steady: 25.0% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2005–2009. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Minto number

Minto is served by 3 overlaid area codes (506, 204 and 431). A 431 number is no more “out of town” than a 506 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Minto shares area codes 506, 204 and 431 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Winnipeg, Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton, Brandon, Portage La Prairie, Miramichi and Bathurst. The largest of them, Winnipeg, holds 386 prefixes in 204 and 431; the smallest on the list, Florenceville, has just 14.

What a Minto number tells you

A number attached to Minto 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 6 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 Minto: code 506-327 is recorded for Aliant Telecom(NB), so every 506-327-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Minto, New Brunswick” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Minto prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 6 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in New Brunswick