Phone prefixes in Vernon, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

36

Telephone numbers covered

360,000

Carriers

11

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

February 21, 2001

Most recent assignment

April 25, 2024

Vernon’s share of its area codes

Within area code 250, Vernon accounts for only 19 of 781 prefixes (2.4%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 778, Vernon accounts for only 8 of 779 prefixes (1.0%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres. Within area code 236, Vernon accounts for only 7 of 730 prefixes (1.0%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 672, Vernon accounts for only 2 of 320 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 108 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 12 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 10 other carriers. Code by code: in 250, TELUS leads with 11 of 19 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 778, TELUS Mobility leads with 2 of 8 prefixes ahead of 6 others; in 236, Videotron Ltd. leads with 3 of 7 prefixes ahead of 3 others; Iristel Inc. is the only holder in 672. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Vernon’s 4 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

11 of Vernon’s 36 prefixes (30.6%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) and Fido Solutions Inc. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by TELUS, Iristel Inc, Videotron Ltd and Bell West 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

Vernon’s dated assignments run from 2001 to 2024. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 7 prefixes went to 6 carriers. 10 prefixes (28%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 4 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Vernon’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS, TELUS Mobility and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless): these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to TELUS Mobility in 2001. The most recent arrivals are Videotron Ltd. (2018), Iristel Inc. (2016) and Navigata Communications Limited (2015), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Vernon.

Vernon’s 36 prefixes provide 360,000 numbers, which corresponds to a mid-sized city or a well-established suburb that every major carrier wants a slice of.

No single carrier dominates Vernon: the leader, TELUS, holds only 33.3% of the prefixes against 10 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 10 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Vernon numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

The register also shows 1 prefix assigned but not yet in service in Vernon (Fibernetics Corporation): numbers that will start showing up on call displays in the coming months.

10 undated in the register.

Dialling a Vernon number

Vernon is served by 4 overlaid area codes (250, 778, 236 and 672). A 672 number is no more “out of town” than a 250 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Vernon shares area codes 250, 778, 236 and 672 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, New Westminster, Abbotsford, Nanaimo, South Kamloops and Prince George. The largest of them, Vancouver, holds 397 prefixes in 236, 672 and 778; the smallest on the list, Salmon Arm, has just 21.

What a Vernon number tells you

A number attached to Vernon 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: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 11 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 Vernon: code 250-260 is recorded for TELUS, so every 250-260-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Vernon, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Vernon prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 36 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia