Area code 604

Every competitive local exchange carrier in the country is allocated blocks of 10,000 numbers, corresponding to a single three-digit prefix, for every rate centre in which it offers service, even for the smallest hamlets.

That resulted in thousands of wasted numbers, and the growing popularity of cell phones, pagers and fax machines has only exacerbated that problem.

However, within three years, 604 was close to exhaustion, once again because of the aforementioned number allocation problem and the continued proliferation of cell phones and pagers.

The remainder of the Lower Mainland continued to use only 604, but the addition of area code 778 required the implementation of ten-digit dialling throughout the region.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced on June 7, 2007 that 778 would become an overlay for the entire province on July 4, 2007 after the same number allocation problem that had afflicted 604 was bringing 250 close to exhaustion.

[2] Effective June 23, 2008, ten-digit dialling became mandatory in British Columbia, and attempts to make a seven-digit call triggered an intercept message with a reminder of the new rule.

Area code 604 serves the coloured areas, as well as D'Arcy and McGillivray (slightly southwest of Seton Lake , pictured near the top right), Yale and Boston Bar (between Hope and Lytton near the Highway 1 marker), and communities along Highway 3 west of Allison Pass (not pictured).