Phone prefixes in Spences Bridge, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

5

Telephone numbers covered

50,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

August 22, 2011

Most recent assignment

March 30, 2022

Spences Bridge’s share of its area codes

Within area code 236, Spences Bridge accounts for only 2 of 730 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 250, Spences Bridge 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, Spences Bridge accounts for only 1 of 320 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 108 rate centres. Within area code 778, Spences Bridge accounts for only 1 of 779 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS Mobility holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 40.0% of the total, ahead of 3 other carriers. Code by code: in 236, TELUS Mobility leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; TELUS is the only holder in 250; ISP Telecom Inc. is the only holder in 672; TELUS Mobility is the only holder in 778. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Spences Bridge’s 4 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

2 of Spences Bridge’s 5 prefixes (40.0%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by ISP Telecom Inc, Navigata Communications Limited and TELUS. 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

Spences Bridge’s dated assignments run from 2011 to 2022. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 2 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 1 prefixes (20%) 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.

Spences Bridge’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 2011. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2022), Navigata Communications Limited (2016) and TELUS Mobility (2011), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Spences Bridge.

Spences Bridge has just 5 prefixes (50,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

TELUS Mobility leads with 40.0% of the prefixes, but 3 competitors have set up in Spences Bridge: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Demand remains steady: 25.0% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2010–2014. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Spences Bridge number

Spences Bridge 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

Spences Bridge 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 Spences Bridge number tells you

A number attached to Spences Bridge tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in British Columbia, most often TELUS Mobility. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 4 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 Spences Bridge: code 236-596 is recorded for TELUS Mobility, so every 236-596-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Spences Bridge, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Spences Bridge prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 5 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia