Phone prefixes in Duncan, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

25

Telephone numbers covered

250,000

Carriers

9

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

July 26, 2000

Most recent assignment

August 29, 2023

Duncan’s share of its area codes

Within area code 250, Duncan accounts for only 14 of 781 prefixes (1.8%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 778, Duncan accounts for only 6 of 779 prefixes (0.8%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres. Within area code 236, Duncan accounts for only 5 of 730 prefixes (0.7%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 7 prefixes, 28.0% of the total, ahead of 8 other carriers. Code by code: in 250, TELUS leads with 6 of 14 prefixes ahead of 5 others; in 778, Shaw Telecom Inc. leads with 2 of 6 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 236, Iristel Inc. leads with 4 of 5 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Duncan’s 3 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

8 of Duncan’s 25 prefixes (32.0%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), Bell Mobility and Fido Solutions Inc. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by TELUS, Iristel Inc, Shaw Telecom Inc 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

Duncan’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2023. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 7 prefixes went to 5 carriers. 6 prefixes (24%) 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.

Duncan’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless): these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to TELUS Mobility in 2000. The most recent arrivals are Iristel Inc. (2016), Comwave Networks (2015) and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) (2011), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Duncan.

Duncan has only 25 prefixes, or 250,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Duncan: the leader, TELUS, holds only 28.0% 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.

Allocation is mature: only 10.5% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2005–2009, and 6 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Duncan numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

The register also shows 1 prefix assigned but not yet in service in Duncan (Fibernetics Corporation): numbers that will start showing up on call displays in the coming months.

6 undated in the register.

Dialling a Duncan number

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

The numbering neighbourhood

Duncan shares area codes 250, 778 and 236 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, Salmon Arm, has just 20.

What a Duncan number tells you

A number attached to Duncan 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 Duncan: code 250-701 is recorded for TELUS, so every 250-701-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Duncan, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Duncan prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 25 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia