Phone prefixes in Union Bay, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

3

Telephone numbers covered

30,000

Carriers

3

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

April 1, 2008

Most recent assignment

March 29, 2016

Union Bay’s share of its area codes

Within area code 236, Union Bay accounts for only 1 of 730 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 250, Union Bay accounts for only 1 of 781 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 778, Union Bay 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

Navigata Communications Limited holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 2 other carriers. Code by code: Navigata Communications Limited is the only holder in 236; TELUS is the only holder in 250; Shaw Telecom Inc. is the only holder in 778. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Union Bay’s 3 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Union Bay’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 3 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Navigata Communications Limited, Shaw Telecom Inc and TELUS. A call showing a Union Bay number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Union Bay’s dated assignments run from 2008 to 2016. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 1 prefixes (33%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. No prefix has been added since 2020: demand for numbers in Union Bay is flat.

Union Bay’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 2008. The most recent arrivals are Navigata Communications Limited (2016) and Shaw Telecom Inc. (2008), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Union Bay.

Union Bay has just 3 prefixes (30,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Union Bay: the leader, Navigata Communications Limited, holds only 33.3% of the prefixes against 2 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 0.0% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2005–2009, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Union Bay numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Union Bay number

Union Bay is served by 3 overlaid area codes (236, 250 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

Union Bay shares area codes 236, 250 and 778 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, New Westminster, Nanaimo, South Kamloops, Prince George and Abbotsford. The largest of them, Vancouver, holds 314 prefixes in 236 and 778; the smallest on the list, North Vancouver, has just 21.

What a Union Bay number tells you

A number attached to Union Bay tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in British Columbia, most often Navigata Communications Limited. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 3 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 Union Bay: code 236-272 is recorded for Navigata Communications Limited, so every 236-272-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Union Bay, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Union Bay prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 3 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia