Phone prefixes in Vancouver, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

743

Telephone numbers covered

7,430,000

Carriers

19

Area codes

5

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

August 25, 1999

Most recent assignment

January 22, 2026

Vancouver’s share of its area codes

Within area code 604, Vancouver takes 343 of 781 prefixes (43.9%), a substantial slice of a code shared by 44 rate centres, the largest of them Vancouver. Within area code 778, Vancouver takes 172 of 779 prefixes (22.1%), a substantial slice of a code shared by 159 rate centres, the largest of them Vancouver. Within area code 236, Vancouver takes 142 of 730 prefixes (19.5%), a substantial slice of a code shared by 269 rate centres, the largest of them Vancouver. Within area code 672, Vancouver takes 83 of 320 prefixes (25.9%), a substantial slice of a code shared by 108 rate centres, the largest of them Vancouver. Within area code 257, Vancouver takes 3 of 15 prefixes (20.0%), a substantial slice of a code shared by 12 rate centres, the largest of them Vancouver.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 185 prefixes, 24.9% of the total, ahead of 18 other carriers. Code by code: in 604, TELUS leads with 168 of 343 prefixes ahead of 14 others; in 778, Bell Mobility leads with 36 of 172 prefixes ahead of 17 others; in 236, TELUS Mobility leads with 27 of 142 prefixes ahead of 12 others; in 672, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) leads with 36 of 83 prefixes ahead of 7 others; in 257, IXICA Communications Inc. leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of Vancouver’s 5 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

374 of Vancouver’s 743 prefixes (50.3%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), TELUS Mobility, Bell Mobility and Fido Solutions Inc. That makes this a mostly mobile rate centre, which is typical of recent allocations: new prefixes go overwhelmingly to cellphones. 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

Vancouver’s dated assignments run from 1999 to 2026. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 126 prefixes went to 14 carriers. 219 prefixes (29%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 143 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Vancouver’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS, TELUS Mobility and Fido Solutions Inc: 7 carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Fido Solutions Inc. in 1999. The most recent arrivals are IXICA Communications Inc. (2018), Comwave Networks (2013) and ISP Telecom Inc. (2010), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Vancouver.

With 743 prefixes, Vancouver has a theoretical pool of 7,430,000 numbers: metropolitan-scale capacity, where running out of free combinations is the very reason overlay area codes exist.

No single carrier dominates Vancouver: the leader, TELUS, holds only 24.9% of the prefixes against 18 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Demand remains steady: 27.3% 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.

219 undated in the register.

Dialling a Vancouver number

Vancouver is served by 5 overlaid area codes (604, 778, 236, 672 and 257). A 257 number is no more “out of town” than a 604 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Vancouver shares area codes 604, 778, 236, 672 and 257 with at least 20 other rate centres, including New Westminster, Abbotsford, Victoria, Richmond, North Vancouver, Aldergrove, Newton and Kelowna. The largest of them, New Westminster, holds 126 prefixes in 236, 257, 604, 672 and 778; the smallest on the list, Port Moody, has just 22.

What a Vancouver number tells you

A number attached to Vancouver tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in British Columbia, most often TELUS. It does not tell you where the handset is today: most of Vancouver’s prefixes are mobile, and a cellphone keeps its number when its owner moves across the country. 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 Vancouver: code 236-200 is recorded for Iristel Inc., so every 236-200-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Vancouver, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Vancouver prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

Showing 400 of 743 prefixes, largest rate centres first.

Elsewhere in British Columbia