Phone prefixes in Thompson, MB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

15

Telephone numbers covered

150,000

Carriers

7

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

February 2, 2000

Most recent assignment

November 28, 2022

Thompson’s share of its area codes

Within area code 204, Thompson accounts for only 8 of 781 prefixes (1.0%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 245 rate centres. Within area code 431, Thompson accounts for only 7 of 572 prefixes (1.2%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 146 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

MTS Inc. holds the largest share at 7 prefixes, 46.7% of the total, ahead of 6 other carriers. Code by code: in 204, MTS Inc. leads with 6 of 8 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 431, Bell Mobility leads with 2 of 7 prefixes ahead of 4 others. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of Thompson’s 2 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

5 of Thompson’s 15 prefixes (33.3%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility, Fido Solutions Inc, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) and TELUS Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by MTS Inc, Bell West Inc and TELUS Integrated Communications. 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

Thompson’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2022. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 5 prefixes went to 4 carriers. 3 prefixes (20%) 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.

Thompson’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 MTS Inc. in 2000. The most recent arrivals are Bell Mobility (2017), TELUS Mobility (2016) and TELUS Integrated Communications (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Thompson.

Thompson has only 15 prefixes, or 150,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

MTS Inc. leads with 46.7% of the prefixes, but 6 competitors have set up in Thompson: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Allocation is mature: only 8.3% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 3 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Thompson numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

3 undated in the register.

Dialling a Thompson number

Thompson 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

Thompson 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 387 prefixes in 204 and 431; the smallest on the list, Austin, has just 9.

What a Thompson number tells you

A number attached to Thompson 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 7 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 Thompson: code 204-307 is recorded for MTS Inc., so every 204-307-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Thompson, Manitoba” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Thompson prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 15 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Manitoba