Phone prefixes in Drumheller, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

16

Telephone numbers covered

160,000

Carriers

8

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

June 1, 2000

Most recent assignment

June 20, 2024

Drumheller’s share of its area codes

Within area code 403, Drumheller accounts for only 8 of 781 prefixes (1.0%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 142 rate centres. Within area code 825, Drumheller accounts for only 5 of 769 prefixes (0.7%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres. Within area code 587, Drumheller accounts for only 3 of 779 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Iristel Inc. holds the largest share at 4 prefixes, 25.0% of the total, ahead of 7 other carriers. Code by code: in 403, TELUS leads with 3 of 8 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 825, Iristel Inc. leads with 2 of 5 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 587, Iristel Inc. leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Drumheller’s 3 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

4 of Drumheller’s 16 prefixes (25.0%) 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 Iristel Inc, TELUS, 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

Drumheller’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2024. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 5 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 2 prefixes (13%) 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.

Drumheller’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 2000. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2022), Iristel Inc. (2016) and Distributel (2010), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Drumheller.

Drumheller has only 16 prefixes, or 160,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Drumheller: the leader, Iristel Inc., holds only 25.0% 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.

Allocation is mature: only 14.3% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 2 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Drumheller numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Drumheller number

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

The numbering neighbourhood

Drumheller shares area codes 403, 825 and 587 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, Fox Creek, has just 14.

What a Drumheller number tells you

A number attached to Drumheller tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Alberta, 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 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 an Alberta area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Drumheller: code 825-796 is recorded for Iristel Inc., so every 825-796-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Drumheller, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Drumheller prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 16 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Alberta