Phone prefixes in Castlegar, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

11

Telephone numbers covered

110,000

Carriers

8

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

November 21, 2005

Most recent assignment

December 16, 2025

Castlegar’s share of its area codes

Within area code 250, Castlegar accounts for only 5 of 781 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 778, Castlegar accounts for only 3 of 779 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres. Within area code 672, Castlegar accounts for only 2 of 320 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 108 rate centres. Within area code 236, Castlegar accounts for only 1 of 730 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 3 prefixes, 27.3% of the total, ahead of 7 other carriers. Code by code: in 250, TELUS leads with 2 of 5 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 778, TELUS leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 672, TELUS Mobility leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; Bell West Inc. is the only holder in 236. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Castlegar’s 4 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

5 of Castlegar’s 11 prefixes (45.5%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, Bell Mobility, Fido Solutions Inc and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless). Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by TELUS, Bell West Inc, Iristel Inc and Shaw Telecom Inc. 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

Castlegar’s dated assignments run from 2005 to 2025. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 3 prefixes (27%) 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.

Castlegar’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless): these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to TELUS Mobility in 2005. The most recent arrivals are Iristel Inc. (2023), Bell West Inc. (2020) and TELUS (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Castlegar.

Castlegar has only 11 prefixes, or 110,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Castlegar: the leader, TELUS, holds only 27.3% of the prefixes against 7 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: 37.5% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2005–2009. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

The register also shows 1 prefix assigned but not yet in service in Castlegar (Fibernetics Corporation): numbers that will start showing up on call displays in the coming months.

3 undated in the register.

Dialling a Castlegar number

Castlegar is served by 4 overlaid area codes (250, 778, 672 and 236). A 236 number is no more “out of town” than a 250 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Castlegar shares area codes 250, 778, 672 and 236 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, New Westminster, Abbotsford, Nanaimo, South Kamloops and Prince George. The largest of them, Vancouver, holds 397 prefixes in 236, 672 and 778; the smallest on the list, Campbell River, has just 21.

What a Castlegar number tells you

A number attached to Castlegar 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 8 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 Castlegar: code 250-304 is recorded for TELUS, so every 250-304-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Castlegar, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Castlegar prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 11 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia