Phone prefixes in Westbank, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

8

Telephone numbers covered

80,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

December 13, 2006

Most recent assignment

May 25, 2016

Westbank’s share of its area codes

Within area code 250, Westbank accounts for only 4 of 781 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 778, Westbank accounts for only 3 of 779 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres. Within area code 236, Westbank accounts for only 1 of 730 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 4 prefixes, 50.0% of the total, ahead of 3 other carriers. Code by code: in 250, TELUS leads with 3 of 4 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 778, TELUS leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; Distributel is the only holder in 236. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Westbank’s 3 area codes, while 2 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Westbank’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 8 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS, Distributel, Bell West Inc and Shaw Telecom Inc. A call showing a Westbank number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Westbank’s dated assignments run from 2006 to 2016. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 2 prefixes (25%) 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 Westbank is flat.

Westbank’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 Bell West Inc. in 2006. The most recent arrivals are Distributel (2012), Shaw Telecom Inc. (2008) and TELUS (2007), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Westbank.

Westbank has just 8 prefixes (80,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

TELUS leads with 50.0% of the prefixes, but 3 competitors have set up in Westbank: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

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 2 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Westbank numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Westbank number

Westbank is served by 3 overlaid area codes (250, 778 and 236). A 236 number is no more “out of town” than a 250 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Westbank shares area codes 250, 778 and 236 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 Westbank number tells you

A number attached to Westbank 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 4 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 Westbank: code 250-700 is recorded for TELUS, so every 250-700-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Westbank, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Westbank prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 8 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia