Phone prefixes in Gibsons, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

7

Telephone numbers covered

70,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

August 23, 2001

Most recent assignment

November 4, 2024

Gibsons’s share of its area codes

Within area code 604, Gibsons accounts for only 4 of 781 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 44 rate centres. Within area code 778, Gibsons accounts for only 2 of 779 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres. Within area code 236, Gibsons accounts for only 1 of 730 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 4 prefixes, 57.1% of the total, ahead of 3 other carriers. Code by code: TELUS is the only holder in 604; in 778, Bell West Inc. leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; Iristel Inc. is the only holder in 236. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Gibsons’s 3 area codes, while 4 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Gibsons’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 7 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS, Bell West Inc, Bragg Communications Inc and Iristel Inc. A call showing a Gibsons number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Gibsons’s dated assignments run from 2001 to 2024. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 2 prefixes (29%) 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.

Gibsons’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 Iristel Inc. (2024), Bragg Communications Inc. (2011) and Bell West Inc. (2010), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Gibsons.

Gibsons has just 7 prefixes (70,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

TELUS leads with 57.1% of the prefixes, but 3 competitors have set up in Gibsons: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Demand remains steady: 20.0% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2010–2014. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

The register also shows 2 prefixes assigned but not yet in service in Gibsons (Fibernetics Corporation and OpenMobile Inc): numbers that will start showing up on call displays in the coming months.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Gibsons number

Gibsons is served by 3 overlaid area codes (604, 778 and 236). A 236 number is no more “out of town” than a 604 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Gibsons shares area codes 604, 778 and 236 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Vancouver, New Westminster, Richmond, Abbotsford, Victoria, Aldergrove, North Vancouver and Newton. The largest of them, Vancouver, holds 657 prefixes in 236, 604 and 778; the smallest on the list, Nanaimo, has just 19.

What a Gibsons number tells you

A number attached to Gibsons 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 4 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 Gibsons: code 604-840 is recorded for TELUS, so every 604-840-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Gibsons, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Gibsons prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 7 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia