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Phone Number not Geographically Portable
I just discovered that phone numbers are not geographically portable.
I recently moved from North Vancouver to Chilliwack. In the process we gave up our landline, now using only our mobile phones.
This weekend I found out that our phone numbers are still "located" in the Vancouver area. A neighbour was calling us from their Telus landline, and he had to enter "1", as it was a long distance call to our mobile phones. This was for calls to both of our phones (one is 604, the other is 778).
Because most mobile phone plans include Canada-wide calling, we easily forget that calling Vancouver from Chilliwack is still a long distance call (with extra cost, unless you have a long distance plan). And it is unnecessary hard to find out what the local calling areas are.
So I now have the dilemma to either get a new number, or risk that people or businesses in my new location do not call because it is long distance.
Roger
Hi rwf86 - This is correct that when you move you'll typically need to change your phone number so people in your new city won't be charged long distance charges.
The way that these calls are checked for a geographical region is by the three digits in the middle - referred to as NXX.You have a few choices:
- Change your phone number to reflect the new NXX but the last 4 digits may not be available
- Keep things the same. As you've mentioned, most cellphone plans include long-distance calling across Canada so they won't be affected.
If you opt for option 2, they can text you and you can call them back
3 Replies
Useful info that came out of this:
There is a website, https://www.localcallingguide.com/lca_prefix.php, where you can find the location (Rate Centre) of your number, and what other Rate Centres are local calling.
- On the Search area code/prefix (NPA/NXX) page, enter the NPA and NXX, eg 604 and 824 respectively. Then click submit. This will show Sardis as the Rate Centre.
- Click on the Rate Centre, eg. Sardis. This will show details on the Sardis Rate Centre.
- At the bottom of the page is a list of Rate Centres that are local calls.
Alternatively, the Local call finder search takes a From and To NPA-NNX and shows if the call is local or not.
Note that this is is for landlines with no long distance plans. Mobile phone plans usually have Canada-wide calling.
Here is the result for the Sardis Rate Centre.
Thanks for confirming.
TELUS_SupportOfficial Support Team
Hi rwf86 - This is correct that when you move you'll typically need to change your phone number so people in your new city won't be charged long distance charges.
The way that these calls are checked for a geographical region is by the three digits in the middle - referred to as NXX.You have a few choices:
- Change your phone number to reflect the new NXX but the last 4 digits may not be available
- Keep things the same. As you've mentioned, most cellphone plans include long-distance calling across Canada so they won't be affected.
If you opt for option 2, they can text you and you can call them back
