Area code 604 is a telephone

area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, rea ...

in the

North American Numbering Plan The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is an integrated 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, World Numbering Zone ...

for the southwestern corner of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. The numbering plan area comprises

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

, the Sunshine Coast,

Howe Sound Howe Sound (, ) is a roughly triangular sound (geography), sound, that joins a network of fjords situated immediately northwest of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2021. Geography Howe Sound ...

Sea-to-Sky Corridor The Sea-to-Sky Corridor, often referred to as the Corridor or the Sea to Sky Country, is a region in British Columbia spreading from Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver, British Columbia, Horseshoe Bay through Whistler, British Columbia, Whistler to the ...

Fraser Valley The Fraser Valley is a geographical region in southwestern British Columbia, Canada and northwestern Washington State. It starts just west of Hope in a narrow valley encompassing the Fraser River and ends at the Pacific Ocean stretching from th ...

, and the lower

Fraser Canyon The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser Ca ...

regions. The area code is one of the nine

original North American area codes The original North American area codes were established by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1947. The assignment was in accord with the design of a uniform nationwide telephone numbering plan that supported the goal of dialin ...

assigned to Canada in 1947. The numbering plan area is also served by area codes 236, 257, 672, and 778 in an

overlay complex In telecommunications, an area code overlay complex is a telephone numbering plan that assigns multiple area codes to the same geographic numbering plan area (NPA). Area code overlays are implemented in territories of the North American Numbe ...

that extends to the entire province.

History

Area code 604 is one of the original 86 area codes assigned in 1947 in the contiguous United States and Canada. It designated the province of

. 604 also served

Point Roberts, Washington Point Roberts is a Enclave and exclave#"Practical" enclaves, exclaves and inaccessible districts, pene-exclave of the US state of Washington (state), Washington on the southernmost tip of the Tsawwassen, British Columbia, Tsawwassen peninsula, s ...

, a pene-enclave of the United States until 1968, when the area was reassigned to

area code 206 Area code 206 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of Washington. The numbering plan area (NPA) includes Seattle and most of its innermost suburbs. This includes such suburbs as Shoreline and La ...

; since 1995, it is served by

area code 360 Area code 360 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the part of Washington state outside metropolitan Seattle and west of the Cascade Mountains. The numbering plan area (NPA) serves all of western Washington out ...

. Despite British Columbia's growth in the second half of the 20th century, 604 remained the province's sole area code for nearly 50 years. By the mid-1990s, however, the need for a new area code in the province arose from rapid expansion of telecommunication services for cell phones and

pagers A pager, also known as a beeper or bleeper, is a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays alphanumeric or voice messages. One-way pagers can only receive messages, while response pagers and two-way pagers can also acknow ...

. The number shortage was particularly severe in the Lower Mainland, which was home to most of the province's

landline A landline is a physical telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber from the subscriber's premises to the network, allowing multiple phones to operate simultaneously on the same phone number. It is also referred to as plain old ...

s and most of its other telecommunications devices requiring telephone numbers. On October 19, 1996, numbering plan area 604 was reduced to span

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 cit ...

and the Lower Mainland, including the Sunshine Coast and Whistler, with the remainder of the province served by the new

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 ...

. Although the 1996 split was intended as a long-term solution, within three years, 604 was close to exhaustion once again, due to the continued proliferation of cell phones and pagers. Numbers tended to be used up fairly quickly in Vancouver and its immediate neighbours. On November 3, 2001,

area code 778 Area codes 778, 236, 672, and 257 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Canadian province of British Columbia. They form an overlay complex with area code 604, which serves only a small southwestern section, ...

was implemented as a concentrated overlay for the two largest regional districts in the Lower Mainland,

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 a ...

. The experiment was announced in NANPA Planning Letter 246. 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 Ten-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure in the countries and territories 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 telephone call. When n ...

throughout the region. The

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...

(CRTC) announced on June 7, 2007, that 778 would become an overlay for the entire province on July 4, 2007. Effective June 23, 2008, ten-digit dialling became mandatory throughout the entire province of British Columbia, and attempts to make a seven-digit call triggered an

intercept message An intercept message is a telephone recording informing the caller that the call cannot be completed, for any of a number of reasons ranging from local congestion, to disconnection of the destination phone, number dial errors or network trouble a ...

with a reminder of the new rule. After September 12, 2008, seven-digit dialling was no longer functional. Overlays have become the preferred method of relief in Canada, as they offer an easy workaround for the number allocation problem. The incumbent

local exchange carrier Local exchange carrier (LEC) is a regulatory term in telecommunications for the local telephone company. In the United States, wireline telephone companies are divided into two large categories: long-distance ( interexchange carrier, or IXCs) ...

for 604 and 778 is

Telus Telus may refer to: * Telus Corporation, a Canadian publicly traded holding company ** Telus Communications, a telecommunications company ** Telus Digital, a technology company ** Telus Health, a health technology provider ** Telus Mobility T ...

. Through "number portability" and sub-allocation of all numbers in some exchanges to a competitor, many numbers in the 778 area code are now serviced by Shaw Cablesystems. On June 1, 2013, area code 236 was implemented as a distributed overlay of area codes 604, 250, and 778 and was expected to be exhausted in May 2020. As a result, area code 672 was implemented as an additional distributed overlay on May 4, 2019, to relieve area codes 604, 250, 778, and 236.

Service area

* Abbotsford217 226 302 504 556 557 615 621 743 744 746 751 752 755 756 768 776 832 850 851 852 853 854 855 859 864 870 *

Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

–

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

– Harrison Hot Springs– Chehalis796 * Aldergrove308 309 409 607 613 614 624 625 626 627 807 825 835 856 857 866 897 996 *

Anmore Anmore is a village in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is north of the city of Port Moody and along the shores of the Indian Arm. Anmore is one of three politically independent village municipalities (municipalities with populati ...

461 469 * Boston Bar867 *

Bowen Island Bowen Island (; ), British Columbia, is an island municipality that is part of Metro Vancouver, and within the jurisdiction of the Islands Trust. Located in Howe Sound, it is approximately wide by long, and at its closest point is about w ...

947 *

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...

250 290 291 292 293 294 296 297 298 299 311 312 327 328 341 412 419 420 421 422 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 444 450 451 453 454 456 473 570 571 610 611 612 619 *

Chilliwack Chilliwack ( ) is a city of about 100,000 people and in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is located about east of the City of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley. The enumerated population is 93,203 in the city and 113,767 in the gr ...

316 378 391 392 393 402 407 490 701 702 703 784 791 792 793 794 795 798 799 819 823 824 843 845 846 847 858 991 997 *

Coquitlam Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the List of cities in British Columbia, sixth-largest city in the province, with an estimated population of 174,248 in 2024, and one of th ...

931 936 939 *

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

940 943 946 948 952 963 *

Gibsons Gibsons is a coastal community of 4,758 in southwestern British Columbia, Canada on the Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), Sunshine Coast, where the southwest bank of Howe Sound meets the Strait of Georgia. During its early history as a Europe ...

840 883 885 886 887 *

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's own life, or the world at large. As a verb, Merriam-Webster defines ''hope'' as "to expect with confid ...

201 206 712 749 750 860 869 * Langley (city) and (district municipality)427 455 508 509 513 514 530 532 533 534 539 546 757 881 882 888 994 * Maple Ridge460 462 463 465 466 467 *

Mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

286 287 289 410 814 820 826 *

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 cap ...

200 202 209 237 239 245 306 351 357 374 375 376 377 395 512 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 537 540 544 545 551 553 616 617 636 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 777 787 788 805 808 813 818 822 828 833 838 862 868 878 889 908 920 *

North Vancouver (city) The City of North Vancouver is a North Shore (Greater Vancouver), municipality city on the North Shore of the Burrard Inlet, in British Columbia, Canada. Anchored by the downtown town centre of Lonsdale, with which its urban core largely syno ...

and (district municipality)210 243 770 903 904 914 924 929 960 971 973 980 981 982 983 984 985 986 987 988 990 995 998 * Pemberton894 * Pender HarbourSee

Pitt Meadows Pitt Meadows is a city within Metro Vancouver in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Incorporated in 1914, it currently has a land area of with an estimate population of 19,498 as of 2024. The city received its name from the Pitt River and ...

458 460 465 *

Port Coquitlam Port Coquitlam ( ) is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of 21 municipalities comprising Metro Vancouver. Located east of Vancouver, it is on the north bank of the confluence of the Fraser River and the Pitt River. Coquitlam borders ...

342 464 468 471 472 474 552 554 927 941 942 944 945 *

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 ...

461 469 492 917 931 933 934 936 937 939 949 * Powell River208 223 344 413 414 483 485 486 487 489 578 *

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

204 207 214 227 231 232 233 234 241 242 244 246 247 248 249 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 284 285 288 295 303 304 330 370 394 448 821 * Roberts CreekSee

Sechelt Sechelt (, Sechelt language, shíshálh Language: ch'atlich) is a district municipality located on the lower Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. Approximately northwest of Vancouver, it is accessible from ma ...

740 741 747 989 * Squamish213 389 390 405 567 815 848 849 890 892 898 919 *

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

is divided into the following local rate centres: ** Cloverdale574 575 576 577 579 ** Newton501 502 503 507 543 547 561 562 572 573 590 591 592 594 595 596 597 598 599 635 ** Whalley495 496 497 498 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 634 930 951 953 954 955 957 ** White Rock305 385 531 535 536 538 541 542 548 *

205 215 216 218 219 220 221 222 224 225 228 230 235 240 250 251 252 253 254 255 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 266 267 268 269 280 281 282 290 291 292 293 294 296 297 298 299 301 307 312 313 314 315 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 331 333 334 335 336 338 339 340 341 343 345 346 347 348 349 352 353 354 355 356 358 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 379 386 387 396 397 398 401 403 404 408 412 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 450 451 453 454 456 473 482 484 488 494 499 500 505 506 559 563 565 566 568 570 571 601 602 603 605 606 608 609 612 618 619 620 622 623 628 629 630 631 632 633 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 671 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 699 704 707 708 709 710 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 742 753 754 757 767 771 773 775 779 780 781 782 783 785 786 789 790 800 801 802 803 806 809 812 816 817 822 827 829 830 831 834 836 837 839 841 842 844 861 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 879 880 891 893 895 899 909 910 915 916 918 928 961 968 970 974 975 976 977 978 979 992 999 *

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 situated on the north shore of Burrard Inlet to the northwest of the city ...

229 281 670 758 912 913 920 921 922 923 925 926 * Whistler203 388 400 402 493 698 902 905 906 907 932 935 938 962 964 965 966 967 972 *

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

863

References

External links

CO Code Status for NPA 604Telecom archives
{{Area code box , State = BC , This = 604,

236 __NOTOC__ Year 236 ( CCXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Verus and Africanus (or, less frequently, year 989 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 23 ...

257 __NOTOC__ Year 257 (Roman numerals, CCLVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valerianus and Gallienus (or, less frequently, year 1010 ''Ab urbe condita'') ...

672 __NOTOC__ Year 672 ( DCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 672 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe ...

/ 778 , N =

250 __NOTOC__ Year 250 (Roman numerals, CCL) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Traianus and Gratus (or, less frequently, year 1003 ''Ab urbe condita''). The den ...

/ 778 , W =

/ 778 , E =

/ 778 , S =

360 360 may refer to: * 360 (number) * 360 AD, a year * 360 BC, a year * 360 degrees, a turn Businesses and organizations * 360 Architecture, an American architectural design firm * Ngong Ping 360, a tourism project in Lantau Island, Hong Kong ...

/ 564 , S1=WA

604 __NOTOC__ Year 604 ( DCIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 604 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe f ...

Communications in British Columbia Lower Mainland Sea-to-Sky Corridor Sunshine Coast (British Columbia) Telecommunications-related introductions in 1947

History

Service area

See also

References

External links