Phone prefixes in Taber, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

7

Telephone numbers covered

70,000

Carriers

6

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

January 14, 2010

Most recent assignment

November 9, 2021

Taber’s share of its area codes

Within area code 825, Taber accounts for only 3 of 769 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres. Within area code 403, Taber accounts for only 2 of 781 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 142 rate centres. Within area code 587, Taber accounts for only 2 of 779 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 28.6% of the total, ahead of 5 other carriers. Code by code: in 825, Distributel leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 403, TELUS leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 587, TELUS leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Taber’s 3 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Taber’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 7 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS, Bell West Inc, Distributel and ISP Telecom Inc. A call showing a Taber number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Taber’s dated assignments run from 2010 to 2021. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 1 prefixes (14%) 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.

Taber’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 Shaw Telecom Inc. in 2010. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2021), Videotron Ltd. (2018) and Distributel (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Taber.

Taber has just 7 prefixes (70,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Taber: the leader, TELUS, holds only 28.6% of the prefixes against 5 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 16.7% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Taber numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Taber number

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

The numbering neighbourhood

Taber shares area codes 825, 403 and 587 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, Stettler, has just 15.

What a Taber number tells you

A number attached to Taber 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 Taber: code 403-223 is recorded for TELUS, so every 403-223-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Taber, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Taber prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 7 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Alberta