Phone prefixes in High Level, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

17

Telephone numbers covered

170,000

Carriers

6

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 10, 2003

Most recent assignment

January 8, 2024

High Level’s share of its area codes

Within area code 780, High Level accounts for only 7 of 780 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Edmonton and spread over 195 rate centres. Within area code 587, High Level accounts for only 5 of 779 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres. Within area code 825, High Level accounts for only 4 of 769 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres. Within area code 368, High Level accounts for only 1 of 78 prefixes (1.3%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 10 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) holds the largest share at 6 prefixes, 35.3% of the total, ahead of 5 other carriers. Code by code: in 780, TELUS leads with 3 of 7 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 587, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) leads with 4 of 5 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 825, Iristel Inc. leads with 3 of 4 prefixes ahead of 1 others; Bell Mobility is the only holder in 368. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of High Level’s 4 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

9 of High Level’s 17 prefixes (52.9%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), Bell Mobility and TELUS Mobility. That makes this a mostly mobile rate centre, which is typical of recent allocations: new prefixes go overwhelmingly to cellphones. 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

High Level’s dated assignments run from 2003 to 2024. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 6 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 2 prefixes (12%) 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.

High Level’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 2003. The most recent arrivals are Iristel Inc. (2016), Distributel (2013) and TELUS Mobility (2007), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in High Level.

High Level has only 17 prefixes, or 170,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates High Level: the leader, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), holds only 35.3% of the prefixes against 5 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 13.3% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2010–2014, and 2 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New High Level numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a High Level number

High Level is served by 4 overlaid area codes (780, 587, 825 and 368). A 368 number is no more “out of town” than a 780 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

High Level shares area codes 780, 587, 825 and 368 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Sherwood Park and Peace River. The largest of them, Edmonton, holds 504 prefixes in 368, 587, 780 and 825; the smallest on the list, Hinton, has just 17.

What a High Level number tells you

A number attached to High Level tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Alberta, most often Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless). It does not tell you where the handset is today: most of High Level’s prefixes are mobile, and a cellphone keeps its number when its owner moves across the country. 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 High Level: code 780-247 is recorded for Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), so every 780-247-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “High Level, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every High Level prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 17 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Alberta