Phone prefixes in Fernie, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

11

Telephone numbers covered

110,000

Carriers

8

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

June 26, 2001

Most recent assignment

August 31, 2023

Fernie’s share of its area codes

Within area code 250, Fernie accounts for only 5 of 781 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 236, Fernie accounts for only 4 of 730 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 778, Fernie accounts for only 2 of 779 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Iristel Inc. holds the largest share at 3 prefixes, 27.3% of the total, ahead of 7 other carriers. Code by code: in 250, TELUS leads with 2 of 5 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 236, Iristel Inc. leads with 2 of 4 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 778, Iristel Inc. leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Fernie’s 3 area codes, while 7 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

3 of Fernie’s 11 prefixes (27.3%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) and TELUS Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Iristel Inc, TELUS, Bell West Inc and Navigata Communications Limited. 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

Fernie’s dated assignments run from 2001 to 2023. The busiest period was 2000–2004, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 1 prefixes (9%) 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.

Fernie’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 in 2001. The most recent arrivals are Bell West Inc. (2020), Iristel Inc. (2016) and Navigata Communications Limited (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Fernie.

Fernie 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 Fernie: the leader, Iristel Inc., holds only 27.3% 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.

Demand remains steady: 20.0% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2000–2004. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Fernie number

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

The numbering neighbourhood

Fernie shares area codes 250, 236 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 Fernie number tells you

A number attached to Fernie 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 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 a British Columbia area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Fernie: code 236-705 is recorded for Iristel Inc., so every 236-705-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Fernie, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Fernie prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in British Columbia