Phone prefixes in Quesnel, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

18

Telephone numbers covered

180,000

Carriers

9

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 11, 2002

Most recent assignment

January 25, 2022

Quesnel’s share of its area codes

Within area code 250, Quesnel accounts for only 7 of 781 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 236, Quesnel accounts for only 6 of 730 prefixes (0.8%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 778, Quesnel accounts for only 5 of 779 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 4 prefixes, 22.2% of the total, ahead of 8 other carriers. Code by code: in 250, TELUS leads with 4 of 7 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 236, Iristel Inc. leads with 3 of 6 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 778, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) leads with 2 of 5 prefixes ahead of 3 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Quesnel’s 3 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

7 of Quesnel’s 18 prefixes (38.9%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), TELUS Mobility, Bell Mobility and Fido Solutions Inc. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by TELUS, Iristel Inc, Shaw Telecom Inc and Bell West 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

Quesnel’s dated assignments run from 2002 to 2022. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 5 prefixes went to 4 carriers. 3 prefixes (17%) 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.

Quesnel’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 Mobility in 2002. The most recent arrivals are Iristel Inc. (2017), Navigata Communications Limited (2016) and Fido Solutions Inc. (2012), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Quesnel.

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

No single carrier dominates Quesnel: the leader, TELUS, holds only 22.2% of the prefixes against 8 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 6.7% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2010–2014, and 3 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Quesnel numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

3 undated in the register.

Dialling a Quesnel number

Quesnel is served by 3 overlaid area codes (250, 236 and 778). A 778 number is no more “out of town” than a 250 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Quesnel shares area codes 250, 236 and 778 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, New Westminster, Nanaimo, South Kamloops, Prince George and Abbotsford. The largest of them, Vancouver, holds 314 prefixes in 236 and 778; the smallest on the list, North Vancouver, has just 21.

What a Quesnel number tells you

A number attached to Quesnel 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 Quesnel: code 250-983 is recorded for TELUS, so every 250-983-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Quesnel, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Quesnel prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in British Columbia