Telephone area code serving British Columbia, Canada, and Alaska, US
Area code 250
is a telephone
area code
in the
North American Numbering Plan
(NANP) for the
Canadian province
of
British Columbia
outside the
Lower Mainland
, including
Vancouver Island
?home to the provincial capital,
Victoria
?and the province's
Interior region
. In addition, the numbering plan area extends into the United States community of
Hyder, Alaska
, located along the
Canada?United States border
near the town of
Stewart
. The
incumbent local exchange carriers
that service the area code are
Telus
,
Northwestel
, and
CityWest
in the city of
Prince Rupert
.
History
[
edit
]
Area code 250 was created on October 19, 1996, as a split of
area code 604
, which was retained by the Lower Mainland.
[1]
Prior to 1996, 604 had been the sole area code in British Columbia for almost half a century. British Columbia would have likely needed another area code in any event because of the province's growth in the second half of the 20th century, but the split was hastened by Canada's system of number allocation. Canada does not use
number pooling
as a relief measure. Instead, each
competitive local exchange carrier
is allocated blocks of 10,000 numbers (corresponding to a single prefix) in each rate centre in which it plans to offer service, even in the smallest hamlets. Once a prefix is assigned to a carrier and rate centre, it cannot be moved elsewhere even if a rate centre has more than enough numbers to serve its customers. That has resulted in thousands of wasted numbers, a problem that has been exacerbated by the proliferation of fax machines and pagers and then of cell phones.
By the middle of the first decade of the 2000s, 250 was already on the verge of exhaustion, again because of the number allocation problem and the continued proliferation of cell phones, particularly on Vancouver Island and in the larger cities of the interior. Amid projections that 250 would be exhausted by January 2008, the
Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission
began considering relief options in early 2007. Proposals included:
[2]
Several of the major landline and wireless providers in the 250 territory strongly favoured an overlay and stated that it would be easier to implement than a split. They also wanted to spare themselves and their customers the expense and burden of changing their numbers, which would have required a massive reprogramming of cell phones.
[3]
The proposal for a split would have forced Vancouver Island's residents to change their numbers for a second time in a decade.
[2]
The CRTC announced on June 7, 2007 that 778 would be expanded to become an overlay for the entire province starting that July 4. On that date, exchanges in 778 became available to Vancouver Island and interior residents, and a
permissive dialling
period began across British Columbia during which it was possible to make local calls with either seven or ten digits.
[4]
Three CO prefixes in the 250 area code were reserved for use by Northwestel, as 13 of its 15 switches could not then handle multiple area codes, and its system could not accommodate ten-digit-dialling.
[3]
The CRTC decided on an overlay after concluding that there was not enough time to implement a split before 250 was due to exhaust in January 2008.
[3]
Effective June 23, 2008, ten-digit dialling became mandatory throughout the entire province, and attempts to make a seven-digit call triggered an
intercept message
with a reminder of the new rule. After September 12, 2008, seven-digit dialling no longer functioned.
[5]
Overlays have become the preferred method of area code relief in Canada, as they are an easy workaround for the number allocation problem, as opposed to a split plan.
On June 1, 2013, area code 236 was implemented as a distributed overlay of area codes 250, 604, and 778 and was expected to be exhausted by May 2020.
[6]
As a result, area code 672 was implemented on May 4, 2019, as an additional distributed overlay to relieve area codes 250, 604, 778, and 236.
[6]
Service area and central office codes
[
edit
]
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"NPA Code Search Information"
.
NANPA
. Archived from
the original
on 3 November 2011
. Retrieved
4 August
2011
.
- ^
a
b
"Relief planning for numbering plan area 250 in British Columbia"
. Canadian Radio-television and Communications Commission. January 11, 2007.
Archived
from the original on June 29, 2009
. Retrieved
December 19,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Code relief for area code 250 ? British Columbia"
(PDF)
. Canadian Radio-television and Communications Commission. June 7, 2007.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on December 15, 2018
. Retrieved
December 19,
2018
.
- ^
"New dialing to come in British Columbia"
. Canadian Radio-television and Communications Commission. June 7, 2007. Archived from
the original
on June 26, 2009.
- ^
"Ten-digit dialing coming to all of BC"
. CTV News Vancouver. June 22, 2008.
Archived
from the original on December 9, 2018
. Retrieved
December 19,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
"Area code relief for area codes 250, 604, and 778 in British Columbia"
.
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
. 28 July 2011.
Archived
from the original on February 20, 2018
. Retrieved
4 August
2011
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
British Columbia
area codes:
236/672/778
,
250
,
604
|
North
:
867
|
|
West
:
Pacific Ocean
,
907
|
250 (overlaid by
778
,
236
, and
672
)
|
East
:
403
,
780
,
587
/
825
/
368
|
|
South
:
604
/
778
/
236
/
672
,
360
/
564
,
509
,
208/986
,
406
|
|
Yukon
,
Northwest Territories
and
Nunavut
area codes:
867
|
Idaho
area codes:
208/986
|
Washington
area codes:
206
,
253
,
360
,
425
,
509
,
564
|
Alaska
area codes:
907
|
54°0′0″N
124°0′0″W
/
54.00000°N 124.00000°W
/
54.00000; -124.00000