Phone prefixes in Langley, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

23

Telephone numbers covered

230,000

Carriers

8

Area codes

5

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

June 21, 2007

Most recent assignment

February 10, 2025

Langley’s share of its area codes

Within area code 604, Langley accounts for only 11 of 781 prefixes (1.4%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 44 rate centres. Within area code 778, Langley accounts for only 7 of 779 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres. Within area code 236, Langley accounts for only 3 of 730 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 257, Langley accounts for only 1 of 15 prefixes (6.7%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 12 rate centres. Within area code 672, Langley 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 9 prefixes, 39.1% of the total, ahead of 7 other carriers. Code by code: in 604, TELUS leads with 7 of 11 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 778, Shaw Telecom Inc. leads with 2 of 7 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 236, TELUS leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; IXICA Communications Inc. is the only holder in 257; Fibernetics Corporation is the only holder in 672. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Langley’s 5 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Langley’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 23 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS, Shaw Telecom Inc, Distributel and IXICA Communications Inc. A call showing a Langley number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Langley’s dated assignments run from 2007 to 2025. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 7 prefixes went to 4 carriers. 6 prefixes (26%) 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.

Langley’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 Shaw Telecom Inc. in 2007. The most recent arrivals are Fibernetics Corporation (2020), IXICA Communications Inc. (2018) and ISP Telecom Inc. (2010), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Langley.

Langley has only 23 prefixes, or 230,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Langley: the leader, TELUS, holds only 39.1% of the prefixes against 7 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 11.8% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2005–2009, and 6 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Langley numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

6 undated in the register.

Dialling a Langley number

Langley is served by 5 overlaid area codes (604, 778, 236, 257 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

Langley shares area codes 604, 778, 236, 257 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 743 prefixes in 236, 257, 604, 672 and 778; the smallest on the list, Port Moody, has just 22.

What a Langley number tells you

A number attached to Langley 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 8 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 Langley: code 604-508 is recorded for TELUS, so every 604-508-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Langley, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Langley prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 23 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia