Phone prefixes in Sandy Lake

In numbers

In-service prefixes

6

Telephone numbers covered

60,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

2

First assignment

June 28, 2000

Most recent assignment

October 4, 2018

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.

• Manitoba — 3 prefixes
• Ontario — 3 prefixes

Sandy Lake’s share of its area codes

Within area code 807, Sandy Lake accounts for only 3 of 293 prefixes (1.0%): the code is dominated by Thunder Bay and spread over 85 rate centres. Within area code 204, Sandy Lake accounts for only 2 of 781 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 245 rate centres. Within area code 431, Sandy Lake accounts for only 1 of 572 prefixes (0.2%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 146 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 3 prefixes, 50.0% of the total, ahead of 3 other carriers. Code by code: Bell Canada is the only holder in 807; in 204, MTS Inc. leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; Westman Media Cooperative Ltd is the only holder in 431. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Sandy Lake’s 3 area codes, while 4 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Sandy Lake’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 6 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Bell Canada, MTS Inc, Provincial Tel Inc and Westman Media Cooperative Ltd. A call showing a Sandy Lake number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Sandy Lake’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2018. The busiest period was 2000–2004, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 3 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 Sandy Lake is flat.

Sandy Lake’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Bell Canada and MTS Inc: these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bell Canada in 2000. The most recent arrivals are Westman Media Cooperative Ltd (2018), Provincial Tel Inc. (2008) and Bell Canada (2000), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Sandy Lake.

Sandy Lake 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.

Bell Canada leads with 50.0% of the prefixes, but 3 competitors have set up in Sandy Lake: 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 3 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Sandy Lake numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

3 undated in the register.

Dialling a Sandy Lake number

Sandy Lake is served by 3 overlaid area codes (807, 204 and 431). A 431 number is no more “out of town” than a 807 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Sandy Lake shares area codes 807, 204 and 431 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Brandon, Portage La Prairie, Kenora, Steinbach, Oakbank and Stonewall. The largest of them, Winnipeg, holds 387 prefixes in 204 and 431; the smallest on the list, Altona, has just 10.

What a Sandy Lake number tells you

A number attached to Sandy Lake tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Manitoba, most often Bell Canada. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 4 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 Sandy Lake: code 807-771 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 807-771-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Sandy Lake, Manitoba” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Sandy Lake prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Manitoba