Phone prefixes in Ladner, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

18

Telephone numbers covered

180,000

Carriers

9

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

June 27, 2006

Most recent assignment

September 13, 2021

Ladner’s share of its area codes

Within area code 604, Ladner accounts for only 9 of 781 prefixes (1.2%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 44 rate centres. Within area code 778, Ladner accounts for only 5 of 779 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres. Within area code 236, Ladner accounts for only 3 of 730 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 672, Ladner accounts for only 1 of 320 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 108 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 8 prefixes, 44.4% of the total, ahead of 8 other carriers. Code by code: in 604, TELUS leads with 6 of 9 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 778, TELUS leads with 2 of 5 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 236, Shaw Telecom Inc. leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; Fibernetics Corporation is the only holder in 672. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Ladner’s 4 area codes, while 7 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Ladner’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 18 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS, Shaw Telecom Inc, Bell West Inc and Bragg Communications Inc. A call showing a Ladner number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Ladner’s dated assignments run from 2006 to 2021. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 5 prefixes went to 4 carriers. 5 prefixes (28%) 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.

Ladner’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 Zayo Canada Inc. in 2006. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2021), Fibernetics Corporation (2020) and IXICA Communications Inc. (2018), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Ladner.

Ladner has only 18 prefixes, or 180,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

TELUS leads with 44.4% of the prefixes, but 8 competitors have set up in Ladner: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Allocation is mature: only 15.4% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 5 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Ladner numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

5 undated in the register.

Dialling a Ladner number

Ladner is served by 4 overlaid area codes (604, 778, 236 and 672). A 672 number is no more “out of town” than a 604 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Ladner shares area codes 604, 778, 236 and 672 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Vancouver, New Westminster, Abbotsford, Victoria, Richmond, North Vancouver, Aldergrove and Newton. The largest of them, Vancouver, holds 740 prefixes in 236, 604, 672 and 778; the smallest on the list, Nanaimo, has just 22.

What a Ladner number tells you

A number attached to Ladner 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 9 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 Ladner: code 604-940 is recorded for TELUS, so every 604-940-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Ladner, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Ladner prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 18 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia