Area codes 587 and 825

Area codes 587 and 825 are telephone area codes that cover all of Alberta, Canada, in addition to the incumbent codes, southern Alberta's 403 and northern Alberta's 780. Numbers in area code 587 started being allocated in late 2008. The new area codes overlay 403 and 780 simultaneously, covering the entire province, and make 10-digit dialing necessary throughout Alberta.

Prior to 1997, area code 403 encompassed Alberta, Yukon and the region that currently defines the Northwest Territories as well as a very small western portion of what is today Nunavut (which split off from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999). However, in 1997, 403 began exclusively serving Alberta, with all other portions of 403 (as well as the portion of area code 819 that had served the region which is today's Nunavut but which, at the time, was still a part of the Northwest Territories) splitting off into a new area code 867. In January 1999, the northern two-thirds of Alberta, including Edmonton, split off as 780, leaving 403 to serve Calgary and southern Alberta. The projected exhaust date for area codes 403 and 780 was March and October 2009, respectively. In 1997, two area codes, 587 and 825, were reserved for Alberta's use by Bellcore.[1]

The first of the new area codes, 587, entered service in 2008 as an overlay for the entire province. As a preliminary step, optional ten-digit dialling was introduced across the province on 23 June 2008 and became mandatory on 12 September 2008. On 20 September 2008, Telus Mobility began allocating numbers starting with area code 587 in the Calgary area.[2] The alternative would have been splitting either 403 or 780--a step that would have resulted in portions of Alberta having to change their numbers for the second time in a decade. A similar step had been taken a year earlier in British Columbia, when area code 778 was converted into a province-wide overlay.

Since April 9, 2016, area code 825 has been overlaid with area code 587 province-wide. [3]

Communities allocated to date

See also

References

  1. "Telecom Decision CRTC 2007-42". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 2007-06-14. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  2. "New dialing to come in Alberta". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 2007-06-14. Archived from the original on 2012-10-01. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  3. "Alberta set to dial up new 825 area code, CRTC announces". Calgary Sun. 2013-10-30. Retrieved 2015-07-30.
Alberta area codes: 403, 587, 780, 825
North: 867
West: 250/778/236 587 and 825 (overlaid onto 403 and 780) East: 306/639
South: 406
British Columbia area codes: 236, 250, 604, 778
Saskatchewan area codes: 306, 639
Montana area codes: 406
Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut area codes: 867

Coordinates: 54°30′30″N 115°00′30″W / 54.50833°N 115.00833°W / 54.50833; -115.00833 (Area code 587)

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.