Phone prefixes in Saltsprings, NS

In numbers

In-service prefixes

2

Telephone numbers covered

20,000

Carriers

2

Area codes

1

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

February 19, 2003

Most recent assignment

February 19, 2003

Saltsprings’s share of its area code

Within area code 902, Saltsprings accounts for only 2 of 782 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Halifax and spread over 174 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Aliant Telecom (NS) holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 50.0% of the total, ahead of 1 other carrier. Code by code: in 902, Aliant Telecom (NS) leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others.

Wireless and wireline

None of Saltsprings’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 2 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Aliant Telecom (NS) and Bragg Communications Inc. A call showing a Saltsprings number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Saltsprings’s dated assignments run from 2003 to 2003. The busiest period was 2000–2004, 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 Saltsprings is flat.

Saltsprings’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Aliant Telecom (NS): this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bragg Communications Inc. in 2003. The most recent arrivals are Bragg Communications Inc. (2003), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Saltsprings.

Saltsprings 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.

Aliant Telecom (NS) leads with 50.0% of the prefixes, but 1 competitors have set up in Saltsprings: 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 2000–2004, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Saltsprings numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

Dialling a Saltsprings number

A single area code, 902, covers Saltsprings, 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 +1 902 and the seven-digit number.

The numbering neighbourhood

Saltsprings shares area code 902 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Halifax, Charlottetown, Sydney, New Glasgow, Truro, Bridgewater, Kentville and Amherst. The largest of them, Halifax, holds 163 prefixes in 902; the smallest on the list, Montague, has just 8.

What a Saltsprings number tells you

A number attached to Saltsprings tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Nova Scotia, most often Aliant Telecom (NS). 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 Nova Scotia area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Saltsprings: code 902-925 is recorded for Aliant Telecom (NS), so every 902-925-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Saltsprings, Nova Scotia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality.

Every Saltsprings prefix

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

Had a call from a Saltsprings 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 2 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Nova Scotia