Phone prefixes in Sooke, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

11

Telephone numbers covered

110,000

Carriers

7

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

February 15, 2006

Most recent assignment

April 18, 2023

Sooke’s share of its area codes

Within area code 236, Sooke 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, Sooke accounts for only 3 of 781 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 778, Sooke accounts for only 3 of 779 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres. Within area code 672, Sooke accounts for only 2 of 320 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 108 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 3 prefixes, 27.3% of the total, ahead of 6 other carriers. Code by code: in 236, Distributel leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 250, TELUS leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 778, Shaw Telecom Inc. leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others; Fibernetics Corporation is the only holder in 672. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Sooke’s 4 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Sooke’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 11 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS, Fibernetics Corporation, Shaw Telecom Inc and Bell West Inc. A call showing a Sooke number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Sooke’s dated assignments run from 2006 to 2023. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 3 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 3 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Sooke’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 Bell West Inc. in 2006. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2021), Fibernetics Corporation (2020) and Videotron Ltd. (2018), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Sooke.

Sooke 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 Sooke: the leader, TELUS, holds only 27.3% of the prefixes against 6 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: 30.0% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2005–2009. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Sooke number

Sooke is served by 4 overlaid area codes (236, 250, 778 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

Sooke shares area codes 236, 250, 778 and 672 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 Sooke number tells you

A number attached to Sooke 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 7 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 Sooke: code 250-642 is recorded for TELUS, so every 250-642-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Sooke, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Sooke prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in British Columbia