Phone prefixes in Comox, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

9

Telephone numbers covered

90,000

Carriers

6

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

December 12, 2007

Most recent assignment

March 16, 2020

Comox’s share of its area codes

Within area code 236, Comox accounts for only 3 of 730 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 250, Comox accounts for only 3 of 781 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 778, Comox accounts for only 3 of 779 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Shaw Telecom Inc. holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 22.2% of the total, ahead of 5 other carriers. Code by code: in 236, Videotron Ltd. leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 250, TELUS leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 778, Shaw Telecom Inc. leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Comox’s 3 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

1 of Comox’s 9 prefixes (11.1%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Fido Solutions Inc. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Shaw Telecom Inc, TELUS, Videotron Ltd and Bell West 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

Comox’s dated assignments run from 2007 to 2020. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 3 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 2 prefixes (22%) 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.

Comox’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 Shaw Telecom Inc. in 2007. The most recent arrivals are Videotron Ltd. (2018), Navigata Communications Limited (2016) and Bell West Inc. (2015), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Comox.

Comox 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 Comox: the leader, Shaw Telecom Inc., holds only 22.2% of the prefixes against 5 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 14.3% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2005–2009, and 2 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Comox numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Comox number

Comox is served by 3 overlaid area codes (236, 250 and 778). A 778 number is no more “out of town” than a 236 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Comox shares area codes 236, 250 and 778 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, New Westminster, Nanaimo, South Kamloops, Prince George and Abbotsford. The largest of them, Vancouver, holds 314 prefixes in 236 and 778; the smallest on the list, North Vancouver, has just 21.

What a Comox number tells you

A number attached to Comox tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in British Columbia, most often Shaw Telecom Inc.. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 6 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 Comox: code 250-941 is recorded for Shaw Telecom Inc., so every 250-941-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Comox, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Comox prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in British Columbia