Phone prefixes in Red Deer, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

71

Telephone numbers covered

710,000

Carriers

14

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 13, 1999

Most recent assignment

March 7, 2025

Red Deer’s share of its area codes

Within area code 403, Red Deer accounts for only 40 of 781 prefixes (5.1%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 142 rate centres. Within area code 587, Red Deer accounts for only 20 of 779 prefixes (2.6%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres. Within area code 825, Red Deer accounts for only 11 of 769 prefixes (1.4%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 22 prefixes, 31.0% of the total, ahead of 13 other carriers. Code by code: in 403, TELUS leads with 19 of 40 prefixes ahead of 7 others; in 587, TELUS Mobility leads with 4 of 20 prefixes ahead of 11 others; in 825, Iristel Inc. leads with 3 of 11 prefixes ahead of 5 others. 3 carriers hold prefixes in every one of Red Deer’s 3 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

27 of Red Deer’s 71 prefixes (38.0%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) 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

Red Deer’s dated assignments run from 1999 to 2025. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 12 prefixes went to 7 carriers. 17 prefixes (24%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 6 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Red Deer’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS, TELUS Mobility and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless): these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) in 1999. The most recent arrivals are Videotron Ltd. (2018), Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable) (2017) and Comwave Networks (2014), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Red Deer.

Red Deer’s 71 prefixes provide 710,000 numbers, which corresponds to a mid-sized city or a well-established suburb that every major carrier wants a slice of.

No single carrier dominates Red Deer: the leader, TELUS, holds only 31.0% of the prefixes against 13 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 11.1% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2005–2009, and 17 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Red Deer numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

The register also shows 1 prefix assigned but not yet in service in Red Deer (Fibernetics Corporation): numbers that will start showing up on call displays in the coming months.

17 undated in the register.

Dialling a Red Deer number

Red Deer is served by 3 overlaid area codes (403, 587 and 825). A 825 number is no more “out of town” than a 403 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Red Deer shares area codes 403, 587 and 825 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Fort McMurray, High River, Banff and Canmore. The largest of them, Calgary, holds 711 prefixes in 403, 587 and 825; the smallest on the list, Fox Creek, has just 14.

What a Red Deer number tells you

A number attached to Red Deer tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Alberta, most often TELUS. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 14 carriers present here or to a VoIP service usable anywhere. Nor does it tell you who is calling: caller ID can be spoofed, and an Alberta area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Red Deer: code 403-302 is recorded for TELUS, so every 403-302-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Red Deer, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Red Deer prefix

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

Had a call from a Red Deer number?

No clear pattern in reports on these numbers yet. If a call worried you:

1. Call back on a number you trust

   If a caller says they are your bank, the Canada Revenue Agency, a courier or your phone company, hang up and call the organization on the number from its website or your statement, never the number that called you. Caller ID can be faked.

2. Report the fraud

   Report the call or text to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online or at 1-888-495-8501. If you lost money or gave out personal details, tell your bank first, then your local police.

   Report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre ↗

3. Register on the National Do Not Call List

   Registering a landline or mobile on the National DNCL is free. Registered charities, political parties, newspapers and companies you already do business with may still call.

   National Do Not Call List ↗Who can still call you ↗

4. Forward suspicious texts to 7726

   Forward a scam or spam text to 7726 (SPAM on the keypad). It's free, and your carrier uses it to block the sender. Don't tap links or reply.

   Get Cyber Safe: forwarding to 7726 ↗

Allocated prefixes

All 71 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Alberta