Phone prefixes in Boyle, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

9

Telephone numbers covered

90,000

Carriers

5

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

June 9, 2000

Most recent assignment

August 22, 2024

Boyle’s share of its area codes

Within area code 780, Boyle accounts for only 5 of 780 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Edmonton and spread over 195 rate centres. Within area code 825, Boyle accounts for only 3 of 769 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres. Within area code 587, Boyle accounts for only 1 of 779 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Iristel Inc. holds the largest share at 3 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 4 other carriers. Code by code: in 780, TELUS leads with 2 of 5 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 825, Iristel Inc. leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others; Iristel Inc. is the only holder in 587. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Boyle’s 3 area codes, while 4 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

3 of Boyle’s 9 prefixes (33.3%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility and Bell Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Iristel Inc, TELUS and Distributel. This is a sort by name, not a licence lookup, and a mobile prefix may have been ported to another network since.

How the allocation was built up

Boyle’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2024. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 3 prefixes went to 2 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 1 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Boyle’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 TELUS Mobility in 2000. The most recent arrivals are Iristel Inc. (2016), Distributel (2016) and Bell Mobility (2007), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Boyle.

Boyle 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.

No single carrier dominates Boyle: the leader, Iristel Inc., 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.

Allocation is mature: only 12.5% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Boyle numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Boyle number

Boyle is served by 3 overlaid area codes (780, 825 and 587). A 587 number is no more “out of town” than a 780 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Boyle shares area codes 780, 825 and 587 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Sherwood Park and Peace River. The largest of them, Edmonton, holds 489 prefixes in 587, 780 and 825; the smallest on the list, High Level, has just 16.

What a Boyle number tells you

A number attached to Boyle tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Alberta, 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 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 an Alberta area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Boyle: code 825-508 is recorded for Iristel Inc., so every 825-508-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Boyle, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Boyle prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Alberta