Phone prefixes in White Rock, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

21

Telephone numbers covered

210,000

Carriers

8

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

July 14, 2005

Most recent assignment

September 14, 2021

White Rock’s share of its area codes

Within area code 604, White Rock accounts for only 9 of 781 prefixes (1.2%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 44 rate centres. Within area code 778, White Rock accounts for only 7 of 779 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres. Within area code 236, White Rock accounts for only 4 of 730 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 672, White Rock accounts for only 1 of 320 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 108 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 10 prefixes, 47.6% of the total, ahead of 7 other carriers. Code by code: in 604, TELUS leads with 7 of 9 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 778, TELUS leads with 2 of 7 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 236, TELUS leads with 1 of 4 prefixes ahead of 3 others; Fibernetics Corporation is the only holder in 672. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of White Rock’s 4 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of White Rock’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 21 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS, Shaw Telecom Inc, Distributel and Bell West Inc. A call showing a White Rock number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

White Rock’s dated assignments run from 2005 to 2021. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 5 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 6 prefixes (29%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 2 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

White Rock’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 2005. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2021), Fibernetics Corporation (2020) and IXICA Communications Inc. (2018), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in White Rock.

White Rock has only 21 prefixes, or 210,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

TELUS leads with 47.6% of the prefixes, but 7 competitors have set up in White Rock: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Allocation is mature: only 13.3% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2005–2009, and 6 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New White Rock numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

6 undated in the register.

Dialling a White Rock number

White Rock is served by 4 overlaid area codes (604, 778, 236 and 672). A 672 number is no more “out of town” than a 604 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

White Rock shares area codes 604, 778, 236 and 672 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Vancouver, New Westminster, Abbotsford, Victoria, Richmond, North Vancouver, Aldergrove and Newton. The largest of them, Vancouver, holds 740 prefixes in 236, 604, 672 and 778; the smallest on the list, Nanaimo, has just 22.

What a White Rock number tells you

A number attached to White Rock 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 8 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 White Rock: code 604-531 is recorded for TELUS, so every 604-531-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “White Rock, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every White Rock prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 21 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia