Phone prefixes in Airdrie, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

23

Telephone numbers covered

230,000

Carriers

10

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

April 16, 2003

Most recent assignment

August 22, 2024

Airdrie’s share of its area codes

Within area code 587, Airdrie accounts for only 10 of 779 prefixes (1.3%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres. Within area code 403, Airdrie accounts for only 8 of 781 prefixes (1.0%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 142 rate centres. Within area code 825, Airdrie accounts for only 5 of 769 prefixes (0.7%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 7 prefixes, 30.4% of the total, ahead of 9 other carriers. Code by code: in 587, TELUS leads with 4 of 10 prefixes ahead of 5 others; in 403, TELUS leads with 3 of 8 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 825, Iristel Inc. leads with 2 of 5 prefixes ahead of 2 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Airdrie’s 3 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Airdrie’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 23 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS, Iristel Inc, Shaw Telecom Inc and Distributel. A call showing a Airdrie number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Airdrie’s dated assignments run from 2003 to 2024. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 7 prefixes went to 5 carriers. 3 prefixes (13%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 5 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Airdrie’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable): these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to TELUS in 2003. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2021), Fibernetics Corporation (2020) and IXICA Communications Inc. (2018), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Airdrie.

Airdrie has only 23 prefixes, or 230,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Airdrie: the leader, TELUS, holds only 30.4% of the prefixes against 9 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Demand remains steady: 25.0% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2010–2014. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

3 undated in the register.

Dialling a Airdrie number

Airdrie is served by 3 overlaid area codes (587, 403 and 825). A 825 number is no more “out of town” than a 587 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Airdrie shares area codes 587, 403 and 825 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Fort McMurray, High River and Banff. The largest of them, Calgary, holds 711 prefixes in 403, 587 and 825; the smallest on the list, Fox Creek, has just 14.

What a Airdrie number tells you

A number attached to Airdrie tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Alberta, most often TELUS. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 10 carriers present here or to a VoIP service usable anywhere. Nor does it tell you who is calling: caller ID can be spoofed, and an Alberta area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Airdrie: code 587-236 is recorded for TELUS, so every 587-236-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Airdrie, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Airdrie prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 23 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Alberta