Phone prefixes in Crowsnest Pass, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

11

Telephone numbers covered

110,000

Carriers

7

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

June 11, 2002

Most recent assignment

November 5, 2021

Crowsnest Pass’s share of its area codes

Within area code 403, Crowsnest Pass accounts for only 9 of 781 prefixes (1.2%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 142 rate centres. Within area code 587, Crowsnest Pass accounts for only 1 of 779 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres. Within area code 825, Crowsnest Pass accounts for only 1 of 769 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 4 prefixes, 36.4% of the total, ahead of 6 other carriers. Code by code: in 403, TELUS leads with 4 of 9 prefixes ahead of 4 others; Distributel is the only holder in 587; ISP Telecom Inc. is the only holder in 825. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Crowsnest Pass’s 3 area codes, while 7 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

4 of Crowsnest Pass’s 11 prefixes (36.4%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, Bell Mobility and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless). Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by TELUS, Distributel, ISP Telecom 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

Crowsnest Pass’s dated assignments run from 2002 to 2021. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 4 prefixes went to 4 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 1 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Crowsnest Pass’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 2002. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2021), Distributel (2016) and Shaw Telecom Inc. (2009), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Crowsnest Pass.

Crowsnest Pass 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 Crowsnest Pass: the leader, TELUS, holds only 36.4% of the prefixes against 6 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 2005–2009, and 3 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Crowsnest Pass numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

3 undated in the register.

Dialling a Crowsnest Pass number

Crowsnest Pass is served by 3 overlaid area codes (403, 587 and 825). A 825 number is no more “out of town” than a 403 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Crowsnest Pass shares area codes 403, 587 and 825 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Fort McMurray, High River and Banff. The largest of them, Calgary, holds 711 prefixes in 403, 587 and 825; the smallest on the list, Stettler, has just 15.

What a Crowsnest Pass number tells you

A number attached to Crowsnest Pass tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Alberta, most often TELUS. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 7 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 Crowsnest Pass: code 403-372 is recorded for TELUS, so every 403-372-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Crowsnest Pass, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Crowsnest Pass prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Alberta