Phone prefixes in Oak River, MB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

2

Telephone numbers covered

20,000

Carriers

2

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

August 15, 2019

Most recent assignment

August 15, 2019

Oak River’s share of its area codes

Within area code 204, Oak River 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, Oak River 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

MTS Inc. holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 50.0% of the total, ahead of 1 other carrier. Code by code: 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 Oak River’s 2 area codes, while 2 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Oak River’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 2 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them MTS Inc and Westman Media Cooperative Ltd. A call showing a Oak River number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Oak River’s dated assignments run from 2019 to 2019. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 1 prefixes (50%) 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 Oak River is flat.

Oak River’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to MTS Inc: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Westman Media Cooperative Ltd in 2019. The most recent arrivals are Westman Media Cooperative Ltd (2019), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Oak River.

Oak River has just 2 prefixes (20,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

MTS Inc. leads with 50.0% of the prefixes, but 1 competitors have set up in Oak River: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

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 Oak River numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

Dialling a Oak River number

Oak River is served by 2 overlaid area codes (204 and 431). A 431 number is no more “out of town” than a 204 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Oak River shares area codes 204 and 431 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Winnipeg, Brandon, Portage La Prairie, Steinbach, Oakbank, Stonewall, Dauphin and Selkirk. The largest of them, Winnipeg, holds 386 prefixes in 204 and 431; the smallest on the list, The Pas, has just 10.

What a Oak River number tells you

A number attached to Oak River tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Manitoba, most often MTS Inc.. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 2 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 Manitoba area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Oak River: code 204-566 is recorded for MTS Inc., so every 204-566-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Oak River, Manitoba” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Oak River prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 2 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Manitoba