Phone prefixes in Stettler, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

15

Telephone numbers covered

150,000

Carriers

9

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

June 1, 2000

Most recent assignment

March 7, 2022

Stettler’s share of its area codes

Within area code 403, Stettler accounts for only 7 of 781 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 142 rate centres. Within area code 587, Stettler accounts for only 5 of 779 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres. Within area code 825, Stettler accounts for only 3 of 769 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 4 prefixes, 26.7% of the total, ahead of 8 other carriers. Code by code: in 403, TELUS leads with 4 of 7 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 587, Distributel leads with 1 of 5 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 825, Distributel leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Stettler’s 3 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

5 of Stettler’s 15 prefixes (33.3%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, Bell Mobility, Fido Solutions Inc and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless). Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by TELUS, Distributel, Iristel Inc and ISP Telecom 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

Stettler’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2022. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 2 prefixes (13%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 2 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Stettler’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 2000. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2022), Shaw Telecom Inc. (2017) and Iristel Inc. (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Stettler.

Stettler has only 15 prefixes, or 150,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Stettler: the leader, TELUS, holds only 26.7% 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 15.4% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2005–2009, and 2 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Stettler numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Stettler number

Stettler 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

Stettler shares area codes 403, 587 and 825 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Fort McMurray, High River and Banff. 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 Stettler number tells you

A number attached to Stettler 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 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 an Alberta area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Stettler: code 403-740 is recorded for TELUS, so every 403-740-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Stettler, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Stettler prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 15 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Alberta