Phone prefixes in Whitecourt, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

9

Telephone numbers covered

90,000

Carriers

5

Area codes

1

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

June 1, 2000

Most recent assignment

January 14, 2010

Whitecourt’s share of its area code

Within area code 780, Whitecourt accounts for only 9 of 780 prefixes (1.2%): the code is dominated by Edmonton and spread over 195 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 4 prefixes, 44.4% of the total, ahead of 4 other carriers. Code by code: in 780, TELUS leads with 4 of 9 prefixes ahead of 4 others.

Wireless and wireline

4 of Whitecourt’s 9 prefixes (44.4%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, Bell Mobility and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless). Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by TELUS and Bragg Communications 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

Whitecourt’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2010. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 4 prefixes went to 4 carriers. 2 prefixes (22%) 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 Whitecourt is flat.

Whitecourt’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 2000. The most recent arrivals are Bragg Communications Inc. (2010), Bell Mobility (2007) and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) (2005), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Whitecourt.

Whitecourt has just 9 prefixes (90,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

TELUS leads with 44.4% of the prefixes, but 4 competitors have set up in Whitecourt: 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 Whitecourt numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Whitecourt number

A single area code, 780, covers Whitecourt, and it is not overlaid with any other code on this territory: one of the few parts of Canada where seven-digit local dialling may still work. From abroad, dial +1 780 and the seven-digit number.

The numbering neighbourhood

Whitecourt shares area code 780 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, St. Albert, Lloydminster, Sherwood Park, Bonnyville and Camrose. The largest of them, Edmonton, holds 274 prefixes in 780; the smallest on the list, Fort Saskatchewan, has just 6.

What a Whitecourt number tells you

A number attached to Whitecourt 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 5 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 Whitecourt: code 780-396 is recorded for TELUS, so every 780-396-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Whitecourt, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality.

Every Whitecourt prefix

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

Had a call from a Whitecourt number?

No clear pattern in reports on these numbers yet. If a call worried you:

1. Call back on a number you trust

   If a caller says they are your bank, the Canada Revenue Agency, a courier or your phone company, hang up and call the organization on the number from its website or your statement, never the number that called you. Caller ID can be faked.

2. Report the fraud

   Report the call or text to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online or at 1-888-495-8501. If you lost money or gave out personal details, tell your bank first, then your local police.

   Report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre ↗

3. Register on the National Do Not Call List

   Registering a landline or mobile on the National DNCL is free. Registered charities, political parties, newspapers and companies you already do business with may still call.

   National Do Not Call List ↗Who can still call you ↗

4. Forward suspicious texts to 7726

   Forward a scam or spam text to 7726 (SPAM on the keypad). It's free, and your carrier uses it to block the sender. Don't tap links or reply.

   Get Cyber Safe: forwarding to 7726 ↗

Allocated prefixes

All 9 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Alberta