Area codes 778, 236, and 672 are area codes in the

North American Numbering Plan The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1 and has the international calling ...

(NANP) for the entire Canadian province of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. They form an overlay complex with area code 604, which serves only a small southwestern section, the Lower Mainland, of the province (including

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

), and

area code 250 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 ...

, which serves the rest of the province. The area codes also serve the small United States community of

Hyder, Alaska Hyder is a census-designated place in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 87 at the 2010 census, down from 97 in 2000. Hyder is accessible by road only from Stewart, British Columbia, is popular with mot ...

, which is located along the Canada–United States border near the town of Stewart.

History

Area code 604 had served as British Columbia's sole area code for 53 years since the establishment of the

in 1947. In 1997, area code 250 was installed for

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...

and the Interior, while area code 604 was restricted to serve Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. Intended as a long-term solution, the proliferation of telephone service in the area required additional central office code relief within only four years. While telephone numbers tended to be used up fairly quickly in the immediate Vancouver area due to its rapid growth, the number allocation problem was particularly severe in the Lower Mainland, which is home to most of the province's landlines and cell phones. Area code 778 was created on November 3, 2001, as a concentrated overlay for the two largest regional districts in the Lower Mainland,

Metro Vancouver The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as one of the 28 ...

and the

Fraser Valley Regional District The Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) is a regional district in British Columbia, Canada. Its headquarters are in the city of Chilliwack. The FVRD covers an area of 13,361.74 km² (5,159 sq mi). It was created in 1995 by ...

. The rest of the Lower Mainland continued to use only 604. Nonetheless, the implementation of 778 made

ten-digit dialing Ten-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure in the countries and territories that are members of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It is the practice of including the area code of a telephone number when dialing to initiate a telep ...

mandatory across the Lower Mainland. In early 2007, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) faced the prospect that area code 250 would be exhausted in early 2008. Relief proposals included a geographic split that would have retained area code 250 for the interior of the province, with Vancouver Island switching to a new area code. An alternative was to expand area code 778 to the 250 numbering plan area, or concentrated overlays for a part of 250. The CRTC concluded that there was not enough time to implement a split before exhaustion, and the major telecom providers in the territory contended that an overlay would be far easier to implement.

Telus Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services ...

and other carriers wanted to spare their Vancouver Island customers the expense and burden of changing telephone numbers for a second time in a decade.Telecom Decision 2007–38
/ref> Accordingly, the CRTC announced on June 7, 2007, that 778 would become an overlay for the entire province effective July 4, 2007. Overlays have become the preferred method of relief in Canada, and no area codes have been split in the country since 1999. As of June 23, 2008, ten-digit dialling became mandatory across British Columbia; attempting to use only seven digits triggers an intercept message reminding callers of the rules. After September 12, 2008, seven-digit dialling ceased to function. Within another four years, 604, 250, and 778 were close to exhaustion once again, requiring the addition of area code 236 for the province on June 1, 2013. In 2019, area codes 604, 250, 778, and 236 were expected to reach certain exhaustion thresholds in May 2020. The CRTC ordered the introduction of a third overlay code for the province, 672, which was activated on May 4, 2019.

Communities and central office prefixes in the service area

100 Mile House 100 Mile House is a district municipality located in the South Cariboo region of central British Columbia, Canada. History 100 Mile House was originally known as Bridge Creek House, named after the creek running through the area. Its origins ...

(672) – 288 982 * Abbotsford (672) – 371 588 994 998; (778) – 201 314 344 345 360 761 769 771 779 780 856 880 982 * Aldergrove (672) – 890 980 985; (236) – 260; (778) – 240 241 242 243 245 246 255 369 549 551 552 556 808 809 823 825 878 908 *

Boston Bar Boston Bar is an unincorporated community in the Fraser Canyon of the Canadian province of British Columbia. Name The name dates from the time of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush (1858–1861). A "bar" is a gold-bearing sandbar or sandy riverbank, and ...

(672) – 891 *

Bowen Island Bowen Island (originally Nex̱wlélex̱m in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh), British Columbia, is an island municipality that is part of Metro Vancouver. Bowen Island is within the jurisdiction of the Islands Trust. Located in Howe Sound, it is approximate ...

(672) – 892 *

Britannia Beach Britannia Beach ( Sḵwx̱wú7mesh: Shisháyu7áy, ) is a small unincorporated community in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District located approximately 55 kilometres north of Vancouver, British Columbia on the Sea-to-Sky Highway on Howe Sound. ...

(672) – 893 * Cache Creek (672) – 202; (778) – 207 * Campbell River (778) – 346 420 560 * Castlegar: (778) – 364 460 633 *

Chilliwack Chilliwack ( )( hur, Ts'elxwéyeqw) is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Chilliwack is surrounded by mountains and home to recreational areas such as Cultus Lake and Chilliwack Lake Provincial Parks. There are numerous outdo ...

(778) – 539 596 860 933 * Cobble Hill (672) – 365 * Comox (778) – 431 541 585 992 * Cortes Island (672) – 366 * Courtenay (778) – 225 335 451 585 647 * Cranbrook (672) – 987 988 989 990;(236) – 363; (778) – 261 450 517 520 550 570 761 963 *

Dawson Creek Dawson Creek is a city in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The municipality of had a population of 12,978 in 2016. Dawson Creek derives its name from the creek of the same name that runs through the community. The creek was named after ...

(778) – 273 299 595 843 864 964 * Delta (778) – 264 * Duncan (236) – 594; (778) – 422 455 493 568 936 * Fernie (778) – 519 *

Fort Langley Fort Langley is a village community in Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada. It has a population of approximately 3,400 people. It is the home of Fort Langley National Historic Site, a former fur trade post of the Hudson's Bay Company ...

(672) – 885 * Fort Nelson (778) – 463 553 744 *

Fulford Harbour Fulford Harbour is a residential community on the southeast side of Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, located near the island's southern end. Fulford Harbour is the site of a BC Ferries terminal with regular ferry service to Swartz Bay on Vanc ...

(672) – 367 875 *

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

(672) – 368 874 984 *

Gitlaxt'aamiks Gitlax̱t'aamiks , formerly New Aiyansh , is a Nisga'a village about north of Terrace, in the heart of the Nass River valley, Canada. It is one of four Nisga'a villages. Though it is located in British Columbia, it is also considered the "capita ...

(672) – 978 * Gold River (672) – 369 *

Gulf Islands The Gulf Islands are a group of islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia. Etymology The name "Gulf Islands" comes from "Gulf of Georgia," the original term used by George Vancouver in his ...

(672) – 882 *Haney (672) – 880 * Holberg (672) – 217 873 *

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

(778) – 221 642 816 *

Hudson's Hope Hudson's Hope is a district municipality in northeastern British Columbia, Canada, in the Peace River Regional District. Having been first settled along the Peace River in 1805, it is the third-oldest European-Canadian community in the province, a ...

(778) – 204 *

Invermere Invermere is a community in eastern British Columbia, Canada, near the border of Alberta. It is the hub of the Columbia Valley between Golden to the north and Cranbrook to the south. Invermere sits on the northwest shore of Windermere Lake an ...

(778) – 526 * Jordan River (672) – 218 872 * Kamloops (236) – 421 425; (778) – 220 257 376 390 399 470 471 495 538 586 696 765 *

Kaslo Kaslo is a village on the west shore of Kootenay Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. A member municipality of the Central Kootenay Regional District, the name derives from the adjacent Kaslo River. At 2016, the p ...

(778) – 205 * Kelowna (672) – 580 986 993; (236) – 361 420 595; (778) – 214 215 313 363 380 392 436 477 478 484 581 594 699 721 760 821 * Kimberley (778) – 481 *

Kitimat Kitimat is a district municipality in the North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member municipality of the Regional District of Kitimat–Stikine regional government. The Kitimat Valley is part of the most populous urban distr ...

(778) – 631 649 818 876 * Kitwanga (672) – 644 * Ladner (672) – 889 * Langley (778) – 277 278 298 366 609 726 826 *

Lillooet Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abo ...

(672) – 784 * Maple Ridge (672) * Nakusp (778) – 206 * Nanaimo (778) – 268 269 441 690 762 787 841 971 *

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capi ...

(672) – 722; (778) – 237 238 312 384 385 386 387 388 389 396 397 398 503 688 727 759 772 773 775 789 791 792 801 822 827 858 859 861 862 863 865 869 885 889 891 892 893 895 896 898 907 935 937 979 *North Kamloops (672) – 991 * North Vancouver (672) – 333; (778) – 251 262 264 338 340 729 802 820 *

Ocean Falls Ocean Falls is a community on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Formerly a large company town owned by Crown Zellerbach, it is accessible only via boat or seaplane, and is home for a few dozen full-time residents, with the seasonal ...

(672) – 219 871 *

Pender Island Pender Island ( Saanich: ) is one of the Southern Gulf Islands located in the Gulf of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada. Pender Island is approximately in area and is home to about 2,250 permanent residents, as well as a large seasonal popula ...

(672) – 220 *

Penticton Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan Valley of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan and Skaha lakes. In the 2016 Canadian Census, its population was 33,761, while its census agglomeration The ce ...

(236) – 422; (778) – 476 559 622 646 781 931 *Pineview (672) – 577 *

Pitt Meadows Pitt Meadows is a municipality of Metro Vancouver in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Incorporated in 1914, it has a land area of and a population of 19,146 as of 2021. The municipality received its name from the Pitt River and Pitt Lake ...

(672) – 894 * Port Alberni (778) – 419 421 449 925 *

Port Alice Port Alice is a village of approximately 739 (2021 census) located on Neroutsos Inlet, southwest of Port McNeill, on Vancouver Island, originally built by Whalen Pulp and Paper Mills of Vancouver. The community is known for its natural environm ...

(672) – 786 *

Port Coquitlam Port Coquitlam ( ) is a city in British Columbia, Canada. Located east of Vancouver, it is on the north bank of the confluence of the Fraser River and the Pitt River. Coquitlam borders it on the north, the Coquitlam River borders it on the west, ...

(672) – 886; (778) – 216 284 285 325 730 831 941 *

Port Hardy Port Hardy is a district municipality in British Columbia, Canada located on the north-east end of Vancouver Island. Port Hardy has a population of 4,132 as of the last census (2016). It is the gateway to Cape Scott Provincial Park, the North ...

(672) – 787 *

Port Moody Port Moody is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It envelops the east end of Burrard Inlet and is the smallest of the Tri-Cities, bordered by Coquitlam on the east and south an ...

(672) – 877; (778) – 217 272 355 522 731 *

Port Renfrew A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

(672) – 788 * Powell River (778) – 236 758 * Prince George (672) – 983 996 997; (236) – 331 423; (778) – 281 349 415 416 497 510 675 693 763 764 890 983 * Prince Rupert (778) – 361 645 * Quesnel (236) – 424; (778) – 334 414 466 768 920 *Red Rock (672) – 992 * Richmond (672) – 772; (236) – 266; (778) – 219 234 282 295 296 297 723 732 803 804 832 918 919 960; *

Radium Hot Springs Radium Hot Springs, informally and commonly called Radium, is a village of 1,339 residents situated in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia. The village is named for the hot springs located in the nearby Kootenay National Park. From Ban ...

(778) – 527 * Saanich (672) – 883; (778) – 351 426 749 750 *

Sechelt Sechelt (, Shishalh language chat'lich) is a district municipality located on the lower Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. Approximately 50 km northwest of Vancouver, it is accessible from mainland British Columbia by a 40-minute ferry tr ...

(672) – 981 * Smithers (778) – 210 640 648 *

Sooke Sooke is a district municipality on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Canada, by road from Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. Sooke, the westernmost of Greater Victoria's Western Communities, is to the north and west of the Sooke ...

(672) – 884; (778) – 352 425 * South Delta (778) – 263 * Sparwood (672) – 388 (778) – 518 * Squamish (672) – 895 906 * Surrey is divided into the following local rate centres: ** Cloverdale (672) – 881; (778) – 571 574 575 850 ** Newton (672) – 878; (236) – 263; (778) – 218 223 438 563 564 565 578 590 591 593 612 830 986 ** Whalley (672) – 876; (778) – 290 293 368 391 394 395 435 636 735 852 ** White Rock (672) – 896 (236) – 265; (778) – 291 292 294 390 545 736 * Vanderhoof (672) – 645 * Winter Harbour (672) – 790 868 * Tahsis (672) – 789 869 979 *

Trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. ...

(778) – 274 367 456 965 *

(672) – 202 222 444 513 514 515 666 887 888 999; (236) – 317 520 521 777 826 828 888 984 985 986 987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999; (778) – 200 222 224 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 235 239 288 300 302 309 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 327 328 329 330 331 333 370 371 372 373 374 375 377 378 379 381 383 446 452 504 532 554 558 580 588 600 628 668 680 681 682 683 684 686 689 706 707 708 710 712 713 714 724 737 782 783 785 786 788 800 807 819 828 829 833 834 835 836 837 838 839 840 845 846 847 848 849 854 855 857 866 867 868 870 871 872 873 874 875 877 879 881 882 883 886 887 888 889 891 893 897 899 903 904 905 923 926 927 928 929 938 939 944 945 952 953 954 955 956 968 980 984 985 987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999 * Vernon (236) – 426; (778) – 212 475 506 790 930 932 *

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

(672) – 995; (236) – 237; (778) – 224 265 350 400 401 405 406 410 430 432 433 440 445 533 535 557 584 587 600 676 677 678 679 698 700 746 747 817 966 967 972 977 *

West Vancouver West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is to the northwest of the city of Vancouver on the northern side of English Ba ...

(672) – 777; (236) – 264; (778) – 279 280 734 805 851 *Whonnock (672) – 897 * Williams Lake (236) – 433; (778) – 267 333 412 417 567 799 961

Notes and references

* *

External links

NANP Planning Letter PL-246

Telecom archives

{{coord, 54, N, 124, W, region:CA-BC_scale:7500000, display=title 778 Communications in British Columbia Telecommunications-related introductions in 2001 Telecommunications-related introductions in 2013 Telecommunications-related introductions in 2019

History

Communities and central office prefixes in the service area

See also

Notes and references

External links