Phone prefixes in Rothesay, NB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

5

Telephone numbers covered

50,000

Carriers

3

Area codes

1

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 28, 2005

Most recent assignment

May 24, 2022

Rothesay’s share of its area code

Within area code 506, Rothesay accounts for only 5 of 677 prefixes (0.7%): the code is dominated by Moncton and spread over 88 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Aliant Telecom(NB) holds the largest share at 3 prefixes, 60.0% of the total, ahead of 2 other carriers. Code by code: in 506, Aliant Telecom(NB) leads with 3 of 5 prefixes ahead of 2 others.

Wireless and wireline

None of Rothesay’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 5 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Aliant Telecom(NB), Distributel and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable). A call showing a Rothesay number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Rothesay’s dated assignments run from 2005 to 2022. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 3 prefixes (60%) 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.

Rothesay’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 Distributel (2022) and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable) (2005), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Rothesay.

Rothesay has just 5 prefixes (50,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

Aliant Telecom(NB) leads with 60.0% of the prefixes, but 2 competitors have set up in Rothesay: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Growth is recent: 50.0% of the dated prefixes were assigned in the last ten years, peaking in 2005–2009. Rothesay is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

3 undated in the register.

Dialling a Rothesay number

A single area code, 506, covers Rothesay, 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

Rothesay 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 Rothesay number tells you

A number attached to Rothesay 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 3 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 Rothesay: code 506-847 is recorded for Aliant Telecom(NB), so every 506-847-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Rothesay, New Brunswick” there names a rate centre, not a municipality.

Every Rothesay prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 5 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in New Brunswick