Phone prefixes in Willow Point, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

6

Telephone numbers covered

60,000

Carriers

3

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

September 18, 2009

Most recent assignment

March 29, 2016

Willow Point’s share of its area codes

Within area code 778, Willow Point accounts for only 3 of 779 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres. Within area code 250, Willow Point accounts for only 2 of 781 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 236, Willow Point 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 3 prefixes, 50.0% of the total, ahead of 2 other carriers. Code by code: in 778, Shaw Telecom Inc. leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others; TELUS is the only holder in 250; Navigata Communications Limited is the only holder in 236. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Willow Point’s 3 area codes, while 2 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Willow Point’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 6 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS, Shaw Telecom Inc and Navigata Communications Limited. A call showing a Willow Point number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Willow Point’s dated assignments run from 2009 to 2016. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 2 prefixes (33%) 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 Willow Point is flat.

Willow Point’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 Shaw Telecom Inc. in 2009. The most recent arrivals are Navigata Communications Limited (2016), TELUS (2010) and Shaw Telecom Inc. (2009), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Willow Point.

Willow Point has just 6 prefixes (60,000 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 2 competitors have set up in Willow Point: 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 2010–2014, and 2 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Willow Point numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Willow Point number

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

The numbering neighbourhood

Willow Point shares area codes 778, 250 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 Willow Point number tells you

A number attached to Willow Point 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 3 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 Willow Point: code 778-502 is recorded for TELUS, so every 778-502-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Willow Point, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Willow Point prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 6 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia