Phone prefixes in Lillooet, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

11

Telephone numbers covered

110,000

Carriers

8

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

November 29, 2004

Most recent assignment

April 12, 2022

Lillooet’s share of its area codes

Within area code 236, Lillooet accounts for only 3 of 730 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 250, Lillooet accounts for only 3 of 781 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 672, Lillooet accounts for only 3 of 320 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 108 rate centres. Within area code 778, Lillooet accounts for only 2 of 779 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Iristel Inc. holds the largest share at 3 prefixes, 27.3% of the total, ahead of 7 other carriers. Code by code: in 236, Bell West Inc. leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 250, TELUS leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 672, Iristel Inc. leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 778, Iristel Inc. leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Lillooet’s 4 area codes, while 7 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

2 of Lillooet’s 11 prefixes (18.2%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility and TELUS Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Iristel Inc, TELUS, Bell West Inc and ISP Telecom Inc. 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

Lillooet’s dated assignments run from 2004 to 2022. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 4 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 1 prefixes (9%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 4 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Lillooet’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 2004. The most recent arrivals are Shaw Telecom Inc. (2022), ISP Telecom Inc. (2022) and Bell West Inc. (2019), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Lillooet.

Lillooet has only 11 prefixes, or 110,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Lillooet: the leader, Iristel Inc., holds only 27.3% 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.

Demand remains steady: 40.0% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2020–2024. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Lillooet number

Lillooet is served by 4 overlaid area codes (236, 250, 672 and 778). A 778 number is no more “out of town” than a 236 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Lillooet shares area codes 236, 250, 672 and 778 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, New Westminster, Abbotsford, Nanaimo, South Kamloops and Prince George. The largest of them, Vancouver, holds 397 prefixes in 236, 672 and 778; the smallest on the list, Campbell River, has just 21.

What a Lillooet number tells you

A number attached to Lillooet tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in British Columbia, most often Iristel Inc.. 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 Lillooet: code 672-784 is recorded for Iristel Inc., so every 672-784-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Lillooet, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Lillooet prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 11 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia