Phone prefixes in Agassiz, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

6

Telephone numbers covered

60,000

Carriers

5

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

November 7, 2007

Most recent assignment

July 7, 2022

Agassiz’s share of its area codes

Within area code 236, Agassiz accounts for only 3 of 745 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 604, Agassiz accounts for only 2 of 781 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 44 rate centres. Within area code 672, Agassiz accounts for only 1 of 321 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 109 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 4 other carriers. Code by code: in 236, TELUS leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 604, TELUS leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; ISP Telecom Inc. is the only holder in 672. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Agassiz’s 3 area codes, while 4 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Agassiz’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 6 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS, Distributel, Fibernetics Corporation and ISP Telecom Inc. A call showing a Agassiz number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Agassiz’s dated assignments run from 2007 to 2022. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 1 prefixes (17%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 3 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Agassiz’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Shaw Telecom Inc. in 2007. The most recent arrivals are Fibernetics Corporation (2022), ISP Telecom Inc. (2022) and TELUS (2021), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Agassiz.

Agassiz 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.

No single carrier dominates Agassiz: the leader, TELUS, holds only 33.3% of the prefixes against 4 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Growth is recent: 60.0% of the dated prefixes were assigned in the last ten years, peaking in 2020–2024. Agassiz is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Agassiz number

Agassiz is served by 3 overlaid area codes (236, 604 and 672). A 672 number is no more “out of town” than a 236 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Agassiz shares area codes 236, 604 and 672 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Vancouver, New Westminster, Abbotsford, Richmond, North Vancouver, Aldergrove, Chilliwack and Victoria. The largest of them, Vancouver, holds 568 prefixes in 236, 604 and 672; the smallest on the list, Prince George, has just 15.

What a Agassiz number tells you

A number attached to Agassiz tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in British Columbia, most often TELUS. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 5 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 British Columbia area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Agassiz: code 236-469 is recorded for TELUS, so every 236-469-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Agassiz, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Agassiz prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in British Columbia