Phone prefixes in Cranbrook, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

36

Telephone numbers covered

360,000

Carriers

11

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 15, 2001

Most recent assignment

March 12, 2026

Cranbrook’s share of its area codes

Within area code 672, Cranbrook accounts for only 12 of 320 prefixes (3.8%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 108 rate centres. Within area code 778, Cranbrook accounts for only 9 of 779 prefixes (1.2%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres. Within area code 250, Cranbrook accounts for only 8 of 781 prefixes (1.0%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 236, Cranbrook accounts for only 7 of 730 prefixes (1.0%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Iristel Inc. holds the largest share at 10 prefixes, 27.8% of the total, ahead of 10 other carriers. Code by code: in 672, Iristel Inc. leads with 6 of 12 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 778, Shaw Telecom Inc. leads with 2 of 9 prefixes ahead of 7 others; in 250, TELUS leads with 5 of 8 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 236, Iristel Inc. leads with 3 of 7 prefixes ahead of 3 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Cranbrook’s 4 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

11 of Cranbrook’s 36 prefixes (30.6%) 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 Iristel Inc, TELUS, Videotron Ltd 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

Cranbrook’s dated assignments run from 2001 to 2026. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 12 prefixes went to 5 carriers. 4 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 10 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Cranbrook’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 Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) in 2001. The most recent arrivals are Videotron Ltd. (2018), Iristel Inc. (2015) and Comwave Networks (2015), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Cranbrook.

Cranbrook’s 36 prefixes provide 360,000 numbers, which corresponds to a mid-sized city or a well-established suburb that every major carrier wants a slice of.

No single carrier dominates Cranbrook: the leader, Iristel Inc., holds only 27.8% of the prefixes against 10 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: 31.3% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2015–2019. 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 Cranbrook (Fibernetics Corporation): numbers that will start showing up on call displays in the coming months.

4 undated in the register.

Dialling a Cranbrook number

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

The numbering neighbourhood

Cranbrook shares area codes 672, 778, 250 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, Salmon Arm, has just 21.

What a Cranbrook number tells you

A number attached to Cranbrook tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in British Columbia, 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 11 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 Cranbrook: code 672-703 is recorded for Iristel Inc., so every 672-703-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Cranbrook, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Cranbrook prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 36 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia