Hello? Manitoba running out of phone numbers

[Roger Strong]

Originally Posted by wave46

The big boom in the amount of telephone numbers required happened in the 1990s and 2000s - fax lines and cell phones came of age then.

Also dial-up and DSL lines, and dedicate lines for alarm systems, VISA machines, shipping systems and whatnot. The number of lines at our company peaked around the time the new exchange was announced, and has dropped considerably since then. A lot of people have also gotten rid of their regular land lines.

[cheswick]

I moved to a new house and receive free MTS service for 6 months and got a free land line. Its a 204-632-XXXX number which is prefix for all the old maples land line numbers my family used to have. Found it interesting/nostalgic

[esquire]

Originally Posted by cheswick

I moved to a new house and receive free MTS service for 6 months and got a free land line. Its a 204-632-XXXX number which is prefix for all the old maples land line numbers my family used to have. Found it interesting/nostalgic

I've noticed those old prefixes being recycled throughout the city... I guess they stopped being tied to geography some time ago?

I grew up in Tyndall Park and every single person I knew in our area had a 632/633 phone number, then in later years 694/697 were added.

It would be kind of weird (to me, at least) to call someone in Tyndall Park with a 222 or 452 number, for example.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by esquire

It would be kind of weird (to me, at least) to call someone in Tyndall Park with a 222 or 452 number, for example.

How about calling us in Lorette with an 895 (St. James) number?

[cllew]

Originally Posted by esquire

I've noticed those old prefixes being recycled throughout the city... I guess they stopped being tied to geography some time ago?

I grew up in Tyndall Park and every single person I knew in our area had a 632/633 phone number, then in later years 694/697 were added.

It would be kind of weird (to me, at least) to call someone in Tyndall Park with a 222 or 452 number, for example.

With LNP (local number portability) the telephone service provider does a "dip" that you don't see of part of the call setup to a database maintained by a Govt mandated third party (Currently Neustar for all of North America). If it finds you have moved out of the exchange serving area it flags the call as being LNP and sends your call to a "number" in the switch that corresponds to whether its MTS landline / a cell phone company / Cable CO or VOIP provider for the final connection.

The odd time there will be problems when somebody moves and uses LNP to keep their existing number and the translation information is missing or corrupt. They have dial tone (if landline) and can make outgoing calls but will not get incoming calls.

[cllew]

Originally Posted by Kinguni

How about calling us in Lorette with an 895 (St. James) number?

Would that number be ported from landline to a cell phone as I did not think that Winnipeg numbers were able to be assigned out of the Winnipeg exchange area due to the way community calling works for the areas outside of Winnipeg.

Unless you are close to Lorette but are still in the Winnipeg service area the same way some people on North Henderson Highway by Goner are still on Winnipeg numbers even though they are close to Lockport exchange.

[hexrae]

So far I've only interacted with 1 person (former colleague now friend) who has the new area code.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by cllew

Would that number be ported from landline to a cell phone as I did not think that Winnipeg numbers were able to be assigned out of the Winnipeg exchange area due to the way community calling works for the areas outside of Winnipeg.

Unless you are close to Lorette but are still in the Winnipeg service area the same way some people on North Henderson Highway by Goner are still on Winnipeg numbers even though they are close to Lockport exchange.

Lorette is in the Winnipeg service area. Sort of a cell phone though. Rogers wireless home phone. Not sure why we have it other than my wife liking to keep her longtime home phone number.

[vid]

Thunder Bay's local extensions stopped being geographic in the early 2000s, for a while everyone in the city who got a new phone number was given 766 regardless of location (the 76 numbers were for the northwest part of the city). A few of our extensions are used for either cell phones or landlines (807624 and 807473, I think they were the first to be used for cell phones here in the early 1990s) but I don't know if the number can be switched from one to the other or not.

We also have a weird situation where 218-475 is for the area immediately across the border from us, but 807-475 is local dialing on the Canadian side in that same area. Typically they don't put exchanges near each other in different area codes like that. If you're on a cell phone near the border and put in "475-2330" it's a crap shoot as to whether that call is going to go to Grand Portage or Thunder Bay.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by vid

We also have a weird situation where 218-475 is for the area immediately across the border from us, but 807-475 is local dialing on the Canadian side in that same area. Typically they don't put exchanges near each other in different area codes like that. If you're on a cell phone near the border and put in "475-2330" it's a crap shoot as to whether that call is going to go to Grand Portage or Thunder Bay.

Manitoba you have to dial the area code.

[The Jabroni]

Originally Posted by esquire

I've noticed those old prefixes being recycled throughout the city... I guess they stopped being tied to geography some time ago?

I grew up in Tyndall Park and every single person I knew in our area had a 632/633 phone number, then in later years 694/697 were added.

It would be kind of weird (to me, at least) to call someone in Tyndall Park with a 222 or 452 number, for example.

Prefixes are pretty much no longer geographically locked, especially since Shaw came into the telephony market a decade ago, and the continuous growth of mobile platforms. Shaw gave us a new prefix number that went like 204-415-xxxx. When we switched to MTS later on, we wanted to stay with the same number, so MTS ported over the new number and programmed it into their network with no issues.

When we switched back to Shaw, they were more than happy to take back the prefixes they were originally assigned with, lol!

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by esquire

I've noticed those old prefixes being recycled throughout the city... I guess they stopped being tied to geography some time ago?

I grew up in Tyndall Park and every single person I knew in our area had a 632/633 phone number, then in later years 694/697 were added.

It would be kind of weird (to me, at least) to call someone in Tyndall Park with a 222 or 452 number, for example.

Yes it makes no sense. It is such a part of the psychology of the city. There was a world of difference between a 222 person and a 452 person. Nothing was more solidly middle-middle-class than our sturdy 256, which I always considered a step up from our neighbours' 253. 586, let alone 632, could have been on the Moon for all I'd ever have encountered it. 233 was elderly French people. 269 and 889 were middle class people kind of like us except their houses had extras like powder rooms and attached garages. 942 and 943 were the numbers for businesses downtown (the old WHitehall exchange). Now there is just anarchy.

[esquire]

Didn't MTS typically publish a map that broke Winnipeg down by prefix areas? It would be kind of fascinating to see one again... those three digits at the start of a phone number really were a thing that informed your understanding of the city.

[GORDBO]

I remember. back in time, we would look at the phone number to see what area we were working in for the day. then look at the adress.

[vid]

Originally Posted by esquire

Didn't MTS typically publish a map that broke Winnipeg down by prefix areas? It would be kind of fascinating to see one again... those three digits at the start of a phone number really were a thing that informed your understanding of the city.

It was two digits.

In Thunder Bay before they used the named exchanged, Fort William was 2 and 3 and Port Arthur was 4 and 5. Port Arthur's exchange received the name Diamond (34) and Fort William got Mayfair (62).

I know a few local people with phone numbers with 647, 705 and 204 area codes. They live here, and have for years, but their phone numbers still have the area code of where they're from. So you can't even really use area codes to tell where people are anymore. If I moved to Winnipeg I could easily keep my 807 phone number for years, and I imagine there are people in Manitoba who have done just that.

Originally Posted by Kinguni

Manitoba you have to dial the area code.

These days, you do. Before 2012 you didn't.

Area code 807 is expected to run out of numbers in 2168.

I actually called a business in a small town the other day, and the person told me to call another number to get to their office (no switchboard). They told me, "call 0300". No local extension, no area code. Just, "call 0300".

Small town.