Phone prefixes in Ashcroft, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

3

Telephone numbers covered

30,000

Carriers

3

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 27, 2016

Most recent assignment

March 25, 2022

Ashcroft’s share of its area codes

Within area code 236, Ashcroft accounts for only 1 of 730 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 250, Ashcroft accounts for only 1 of 781 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 672, Ashcroft accounts for only 1 of 320 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 108 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

ISP Telecom Inc. holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 2 other carriers. Code by code: Navigata Communications Limited is the only holder in 236; TELUS is the only holder in 250; ISP Telecom Inc. is the only holder in 672. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Ashcroft’s 3 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Ashcroft’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 3 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them ISP Telecom Inc, Navigata Communications Limited and TELUS. A call showing a Ashcroft number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Ashcroft’s dated assignments run from 2016 to 2022. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 1 prefixes (33%) 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.

Ashcroft’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 Navigata Communications Limited in 2016. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2022) and Navigata Communications Limited (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Ashcroft.

Ashcroft has just 3 prefixes (30,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Ashcroft: the leader, ISP Telecom Inc., holds only 33.3% of the prefixes against 2 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: 50.0% of the dated prefixes were assigned in the last ten years, peaking in 2015–2019. Ashcroft is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Ashcroft number

Ashcroft is served by 3 overlaid area codes (236, 250 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

Ashcroft shares area codes 236, 250 and 672 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, Abbotsford, Nanaimo, Prince George, South Kamloops and Vernon. The largest of them, Vancouver, holds 225 prefixes in 236 and 672; the smallest on the list, New Westminster, has just 14.

What a Ashcroft number tells you

A number attached to Ashcroft tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in British Columbia, most often ISP Telecom Inc.. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 3 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 Ashcroft: code 672-712 is recorded for ISP Telecom Inc., so every 672-712-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Ashcroft, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Ashcroft prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 3 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia