News and Views » Straight Talk

B.C. to get new 236 telephone area code in 2013

By Stephen Hui, July 28, 2011

With its current area codes, British Columbia is expected to run out of telephone numbers by 2016.

So, to avert a telephone number shortage, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission plans to introduce a new area code in the province.

Beginning June 1, 2013, new numbers may be assigned the area code 236, the CRTC announced today (July 28).

Until 1996, 604 was the sole area code in the province. Then the 250 area code was introduced for numbers outside Greater Vancouver. In 2001, the area code 778 was added in Greater Vancouver, before being applied across B.C. in 2008.

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Rick B2
Thu, 2011-08-04 05:15
In every other part of the world, when a country runs out of phone numbers for a city or area, it just adds another digit to the phone number. This is simple and results in the available phone number increasing by a factor of 8 or 9 times - some prefixes are off limits. In North America there are committees agonising over new area codes every few years. Going to 8-digit numbers would save the problem of number shortage for many decades to come.

London and some other UK cities now have 8-digit numbers.
 
 
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