Phone prefixes in Spruce Grove, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

13

Telephone numbers covered

130,000

Carriers

6

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 11, 2006

Most recent assignment

August 19, 2021

Spruce Grove’s share of its area codes

Within area code 587, Spruce Grove accounts for only 6 of 779 prefixes (0.8%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres. Within area code 780, Spruce Grove accounts for only 5 of 780 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Edmonton and spread over 195 rate centres. Within area code 825, Spruce Grove accounts for only 2 of 769 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 6 prefixes, 46.2% of the total, ahead of 5 other carriers. Code by code: in 587, TELUS leads with 2 of 6 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 780, TELUS leads with 3 of 5 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 825, TELUS leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of Spruce Grove’s 3 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Spruce Grove’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 13 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS, Iristel Inc, Shaw Telecom Inc and Bell West Inc. A call showing a Spruce Grove number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Spruce Grove’s dated assignments run from 2006 to 2021. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 4 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 2 prefixes (15%) 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.

Spruce Grove’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 in 2006. The most recent arrivals are Iristel Inc. (2016), Comwave Networks (2015) and Distributel (2014), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Spruce Grove.

Spruce Grove has only 13 prefixes, or 130,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

TELUS leads with 46.2% of the prefixes, but 5 competitors have set up in Spruce Grove: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Allocation is mature: only 9.1% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2010–2014, and 2 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Spruce Grove numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Spruce Grove number

Spruce Grove is served by 3 overlaid area codes (587, 780 and 825). A 825 number is no more “out of town” than a 587 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Spruce Grove shares area codes 587, 780 and 825 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Sherwood Park and Peace River. The largest of them, Edmonton, holds 489 prefixes in 587, 780 and 825; the smallest on the list, High Level, has just 16.

What a Spruce Grove number tells you

A number attached to Spruce Grove 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 6 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 Spruce Grove: code 587-249 is recorded for TELUS, so every 587-249-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Spruce Grove, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Spruce Grove prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 13 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Alberta