Phone prefixes in Lacombe, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

7

Telephone numbers covered

70,000

Carriers

6

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 24, 2000

Most recent assignment

March 4, 2022

Lacombe’s share of its area codes

Within area code 403, Lacombe accounts for only 3 of 781 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 142 rate centres. Within area code 587, Lacombe accounts for only 2 of 779 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres. Within area code 825, Lacombe accounts for only 2 of 769 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 28.6% of the total, ahead of 5 other carriers. Code by code: in 403, TELUS leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 587, Bell West Inc. leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 825, Distributel leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Lacombe’s 3 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Lacombe’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, Distributel and ISP Telecom Inc. A call showing a Lacombe number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Lacombe’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2022. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 1 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 1 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Lacombe’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 2000. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2022), Videotron Ltd. (2018) and Distributel (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Lacombe.

Lacombe 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.

No single carrier dominates Lacombe: the leader, TELUS, holds only 28.6% 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 16.7% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Lacombe numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Lacombe number

Lacombe is served by 3 overlaid area codes (403, 587 and 825). A 825 number is no more “out of town” than a 403 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Lacombe shares area codes 403, 587 and 825 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Fort McMurray, High River and Banff. The largest of them, Calgary, holds 711 prefixes in 403, 587 and 825; the smallest on the list, Stettler, has just 15.

What a Lacombe number tells you

A number attached to Lacombe tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Alberta, most often TELUS. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 6 carriers present here or to a VoIP service usable anywhere. 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 Lacombe: code 403-782 is recorded for TELUS, so every 403-782-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Lacombe, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Lacombe prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Alberta