Phone prefixes in Torbay, NL

In numbers

In-service prefixes

9

Telephone numbers covered

90,000

Carriers

6

Area codes

1

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

August 10, 2007

Most recent assignment

August 19, 2024

Torbay’s share of its area code

Within area code 709, Torbay accounts for only 9 of 630 prefixes (1.4%): the code is dominated by St. John's and spread over 209 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Iristel Inc. holds the largest share at 4 prefixes, 44.4% of the total, ahead of 5 other carriers. Code by code: in 709, Iristel Inc. leads with 4 of 9 prefixes ahead of 5 others.

Wireless and wireline

None of Torbay’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 9 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Iristel Inc, Aliant Telecom (NF), Bragg Communications Inc and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. A call showing a Torbay number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Torbay’s dated assignments run from 2007 to 2024. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 1 prefixes (11%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 2 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Torbay’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Aliant Telecom (NF): this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable) in 2007. The most recent arrivals are Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (2019), TELUS Integrated Communications (2016) and Bragg Communications Inc. (2014), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Torbay.

Torbay has just 9 prefixes (90,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

Iristel Inc. leads with 44.4% of the prefixes, but 5 competitors have set up in Torbay: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Demand remains steady: 25.0% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2015–2019. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Torbay number

A single area code, 709, covers Torbay, 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 +1 709 and the seven-digit number.

The numbering neighbourhood

Torbay shares area code 709 with at least 20 other rate centres, including St. John's, Corner Brook, Clarenville, Carbonear, Gander, Marystown, Bay Roberts and Labrador City - Wabush. The largest of them, St. John's, holds 100 prefixes in 709; the smallest on the list, Grand Bank, has just 5.

What a Torbay number tells you

A number attached to Torbay tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Newfoundland and Labrador, most often Iristel Inc.. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 6 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 Newfoundland and Labrador area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Torbay: code 709-400 is recorded for Iristel Inc., so every 709-400-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Torbay, Newfoundland and Labrador” there names a rate centre, not a municipality.

Every Torbay prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 9 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Newfoundland and Labrador