Phone prefixes in Little Fort, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

3

Telephone numbers covered

30,000

Carriers

3

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 27, 2016

Most recent assignment

March 29, 2022

Little Fort’s share of its area codes

Within area code 236, Little Fort accounts for only 1 of 730 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 250, Little Fort accounts for only 1 of 781 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 672, Little Fort 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

ISP Telecom Inc. holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 2 other carriers. Code by code: Navigata Communications Limited is the only holder in 236; TELUS is the only holder in 250; ISP Telecom Inc. is the only holder in 672. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Little Fort’s 3 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Little Fort’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 3 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them ISP Telecom Inc, Navigata Communications Limited and TELUS. A call showing a Little Fort number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Little Fort’s dated assignments run from 2016 to 2022. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 1 prefixes (33%) 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.

Little Fort’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 Navigata Communications Limited in 2016. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2022) and Navigata Communications Limited (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Little Fort.

Little Fort has just 3 prefixes (30,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Little Fort: the leader, ISP Telecom Inc., holds only 33.3% of the prefixes against 2 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Growth is recent: 50.0% of the dated prefixes were assigned in the last ten years, peaking in 2015–2019. Little Fort is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Little Fort number

Little Fort is served by 3 overlaid area codes (236, 250 and 672). A 672 number is no more “out of town” than a 236 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Little Fort shares area codes 236, 250 and 672 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, Abbotsford, Nanaimo, Prince George, South Kamloops and Vernon. The largest of them, Vancouver, holds 225 prefixes in 236 and 672; the smallest on the list, New Westminster, has just 14.

What a Little Fort number tells you

A number attached to Little Fort tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in British Columbia, most often ISP Telecom Inc.. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 3 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 Little Fort: code 672-824 is recorded for ISP Telecom Inc., so every 672-824-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Little Fort, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Little Fort prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 3 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia