Phone prefixes in Whistler, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

27

Telephone numbers covered

270,000

Carriers

11

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

September 27, 1999

Most recent assignment

October 15, 2025

Whistler’s share of its area codes

Within area code 604, Whistler accounts for only 18 of 781 prefixes (2.3%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 44 rate centres. Within area code 236, Whistler accounts for only 5 of 730 prefixes (0.7%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 778, Whistler accounts for only 4 of 779 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 8 prefixes, 29.6% of the total, ahead of 10 other carriers. Code by code: in 604, TELUS leads with 7 of 18 prefixes ahead of 8 others; in 236, Iristel Inc. leads with 4 of 5 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 778, TELUS leads with 1 of 4 prefixes ahead of 3 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Whistler’s 3 area codes, while 7 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

7 of Whistler’s 27 prefixes (25.9%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), Bell Mobility and Fido Solutions Inc. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by TELUS, Iristel Inc, Shaw Telecom Inc and Videotron Ltd. 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

Whistler’s dated assignments run from 1999 to 2025. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 7 prefixes went to 5 carriers. 5 prefixes (19%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 5 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Whistler’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS and Fido Solutions Inc: these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to TELUS Mobility in 1999. The most recent arrivals are Comwave Networks (2015), Navigata Communications Limited (2014) and Iristel Inc. (2013), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Whistler.

Whistler has only 27 prefixes, or 270,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Whistler: the leader, TELUS, holds only 29.6% 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.

Demand remains steady: 22.7% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2005–2009. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

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

5 undated in the register.

Dialling a Whistler number

Whistler is served by 3 overlaid area codes (604, 236 and 778). A 778 number is no more “out of town” than a 604 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Whistler shares area codes 604, 236 and 778 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Vancouver, New Westminster, Richmond, Abbotsford, Victoria, Aldergrove, North Vancouver and Newton. The largest of them, Vancouver, holds 657 prefixes in 236, 604 and 778; the smallest on the list, Prince George, has just 18.

What a Whistler number tells you

A number attached to Whistler 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 Whistler: code 604-905 is recorded for TELUS, so every 604-905-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Whistler, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Whistler prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 27 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia