Phone prefixes in Ganges, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

14

Telephone numbers covered

140,000

Carriers

10

Area codes

5

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 31, 2001

Most recent assignment

January 19, 2026

Ganges’s share of its area codes

Within area code 250, Ganges accounts for only 6 of 781 prefixes (0.8%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 672, Ganges accounts for only 3 of 320 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 108 rate centres. Within area code 236, Ganges accounts for only 2 of 730 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 778, Ganges accounts for only 2 of 779 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres. Within area code 257, Ganges accounts for only 1 of 15 prefixes (6.7%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 12 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 3 prefixes, 21.4% of the total, ahead of 9 other carriers. Code by code: in 250, TELUS leads with 2 of 6 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 672, TELUS Mobility leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 236, Distributel leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 778, Shaw Telecom Inc. leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; TELUS is the only holder in 257. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Ganges’s 5 area codes, while 7 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

4 of Ganges’s 14 prefixes (28.6%) 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, Shaw Telecom Inc, Bell West Inc and Distributel. 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

Ganges’s dated assignments run from 2001 to 2026. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 2 prefixes (14%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 4 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Ganges’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 2001. The most recent arrivals are TELUS (2026), Fibernetics Corporation (2021) and ISP Telecom Inc. (2021), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Ganges.

Ganges has only 14 prefixes, or 140,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Ganges: the leader, TELUS, holds only 21.4% of the prefixes against 9 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: 33.3% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2005–2009. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Ganges number

Ganges is served by 5 overlaid area codes (250, 672, 236, 778 and 257). A 257 number is no more “out of town” than a 250 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Ganges shares area codes 250, 672, 236, 778 and 257 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 400 prefixes in 236, 257, 672 and 778; the smallest on the list, Campbell River, has just 21.

What a Ganges number tells you

A number attached to Ganges 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 10 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 Ganges: code 250-537 is recorded for TELUS, so every 250-537-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Ganges, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Ganges prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 14 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia