Phone prefixes in Warner, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

3

Telephone numbers covered

30,000

Carriers

3

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

September 23, 2003

Most recent assignment

April 18, 2016

Warner’s share of its area codes

Within area code 403, Warner accounts for only 2 of 781 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 142 rate centres. Within area code 825, Warner accounts for only 1 of 769 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Distributel holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 2 other carriers. Code by code: in 403, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; Distributel is the only holder in 825. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Warner’s 2 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

1 of Warner’s 3 prefixes (33.3%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless). Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Distributel and TELUS. 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

Warner’s dated assignments run from 2003 to 2016. The busiest period was 2000–2004, 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 Warner is flat.

Warner’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 Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) in 2003. The most recent arrivals are Distributel (2016) and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) (2003), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Warner.

Warner 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 Warner: the leader, Distributel, 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 2000–2004, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Warner numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Warner number

Warner is served by 2 overlaid area codes (403 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

Warner shares area codes 403 and 825 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, High River, Canmore and Banff. The largest of them, Calgary, holds 516 prefixes in 403 and 825; the smallest on the list, Okotoks, has just 10.

What a Warner number tells you

A number attached to Warner tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Alberta, most often Distributel. 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 an Alberta area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Warner: code 825-694 is recorded for Distributel, so every 825-694-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Warner, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Warner prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Alberta