Phone prefixes in Westlock, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

12

Telephone numbers covered

120,000

Carriers

7

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 14, 2004

Most recent assignment

November 4, 2024

Westlock’s share of its area codes

Within area code 780, Westlock accounts for only 8 of 780 prefixes (1.0%): the code is dominated by Edmonton and spread over 195 rate centres. Within area code 587, Westlock accounts for only 3 of 779 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres. Within area code 368, Westlock accounts for only 1 of 78 prefixes (1.3%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 10 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 5 prefixes, 41.7% of the total, ahead of 6 other carriers. Code by code: in 780, TELUS leads with 3 of 8 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 587, TELUS leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others; Iristel Inc. is the only holder in 368. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Westlock’s 3 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

5 of Westlock’s 12 prefixes (41.7%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, Bell Mobility, Fido Solutions Inc and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless). Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by TELUS, Bell West Inc and Iristel 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

Westlock’s dated assignments run from 2004 to 2024. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 4 prefixes went to 4 carriers. 2 prefixes (17%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 1 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Westlock’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 TELUS Mobility in 2004. The most recent arrivals are Iristel Inc. (2024), Bell West Inc. (2010) and Fido Solutions Inc. (2008), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Westlock.

Westlock has only 12 prefixes, or 120,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

TELUS leads with 41.7% of the prefixes, but 6 competitors have set up in Westlock: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Allocation is mature: only 10.0% 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 Westlock numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

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

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Westlock number

Westlock is served by 3 overlaid area codes (780, 587 and 368). A 368 number is no more “out of town” than a 780 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Westlock shares area codes 780, 587 and 368 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Sherwood Park, Red Deer, St. Albert and Lloydminster. The largest of them, Edmonton, holds 413 prefixes in 368, 587 and 780; the smallest on the list, Wetaskiwin, has just 13.

What a Westlock number tells you

A number attached to Westlock tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Alberta, most often TELUS. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 7 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 Westlock: code 780-307 is recorded for TELUS, so every 780-307-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Westlock, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Westlock prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 12 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Alberta