Phone prefixes in Chemainus, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

10

Telephone numbers covered

100,000

Carriers

9

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 31, 2001

Most recent assignment

May 18, 2022

Chemainus’s share of its area codes

Within area code 250, Chemainus accounts for only 7 of 781 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 236, Chemainus accounts for only 2 of 730 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 672, Chemainus 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

TELUS holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 20.0% of the total, ahead of 8 other carriers. Code by code: in 250, TELUS leads with 2 of 7 prefixes ahead of 5 others; in 236, Bell West Inc. 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 Chemainus’s 3 area codes, while 9 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

4 of Chemainus’s 10 prefixes (40.0%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility, Fido Solutions Inc, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) and TELUS Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by TELUS, Bell West Inc, Distributel and ISP 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

Chemainus’s dated assignments run from 2001 to 2022. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 4 prefixes went to 4 carriers. 2 prefixes (20%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 2 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Chemainus’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 2001. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2022), Bell West Inc. (2020) and Distributel (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Chemainus.

Chemainus has only 10 prefixes, or 100,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Chemainus: the leader, TELUS, holds only 20.0% of the prefixes against 8 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 2005–2009. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Chemainus number

Chemainus is served by 3 overlaid area codes (250, 236 and 672). A 672 number is no more “out of town” than a 250 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Chemainus shares area codes 250, 236 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 Chemainus number tells you

A number attached to Chemainus 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 9 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 Chemainus: code 250-246 is recorded for TELUS, so every 250-246-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Chemainus, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Chemainus prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 10 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia