BC's new area code is 672

Starting May 4th of 2019, British Columbians will be getting a new area code, bringing the provincial total to five. Get ready to start seeing phone numbers that start with 672.

Back in 2001, ten-digit dialing was introduced to Metro Vancouver and then, seven years later in 2008, the rest of the province followed suit. That meant that whether you were calling across town or across the country, you needed to include the area code of the number you were dialing.

Each area code has the capacity to service nearly 8 million new customers but this begs the question: Why do we need so many phone numbers? Thanks to the mass adoption of wireless devices over the past 20 years, we go through phone numbers quicker than ever.

The Canadian Numbering Administrator predicts that Canadians will run out of phone numbers by 2040. When that happens, it’s anticipated the CRTC will introduce four-digit area codes.