Get a business number with area code 604
Area code 604 covers Greater Vancouver. Connect your own telecom account to Relay, pick a 604 number, and your team calls and texts from the browser. The telecom account carries your name.
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Area code 604 at a glance
Where area code 604 comes from
An original 1947 code, 604 once covered all of British Columbia. The 1996 split took the interior and Vancouver Island away to 250, leaving it on the Lower Mainland.
What 604 covers
Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley: the city, Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Coquitlam, the north shore, then east to Abbotsford and Chilliwack. The Whistler corridor attaches to the north.
Places served by 604
Who answers the phone in 604
The port and logistics first, then real estate, film production, technology and international trade oriented toward the Asia-Pacific. The Pacific time zone imposes its own calling hours.
The phone day to day in 604
Vancouver runs on Pacific time, three hours behind Montreal and Toronto. That is the strongest daily constraint: the local morning is already afternoon in the east, so a business selling nationally starts early to catch Ontario. Conversely, late afternoon opens onto the Asia-Pacific. Distances in the Fraser Valley are real: Chilliwack is more than an hour from the city.
604 and its neighbours
The 604 shares the Lower Mainland with 778, 236 and 672, which also cover the rest of the province. Past the valley begins 250, holding the island and the interior. A Victoria customer clearly distinguishes a 604 from a 250: the first says Vancouver, the second says everything else.
What a 604 number changes for a business
The 604 is the West's most recognisable prefix and the province's scarcest. For a business selling into Vancouver it signals an established presence in a market where many suppliers operate remotely. It is the only British Columbia code that pinpoints a city.
How to dial a 604 number
Ten-digit dialing is mandatory in the 604 area (overlaid with 778, 236, 672).
Why a 604 number for your business?
A 604 number gives you a local presence in Greater Vancouver. Calls with a local caller ID get picked up more often than an unknown or toll-free number, and your clients recognize a neighbour rather than an out-of-province cold call.
- Picked up more often than a toll-free or out-of-province number.
- Local trust: clients prefer a vendor from their region.
- Remote team: everyone calls from anywhere under the same local number.
- Easy to recall for cards, vehicles and word of mouth.
Who uses a 604 number?
Practices and professional services
Accountants, notaries, consultants: the client calls back a number they recognise, and every exchange stays attached to their file. Missed calls go back out as an automatic text instead of sitting in a mailbox nobody checks.
Shops and workshops
The phone question is short: do you have it, when do you close, what does it cost. The number rings wherever someone can answer, and texting handles the rest without tying up the counter.
Home services
Plumbers, electricians, HVAC: the whole team shares one local number, calls ring whoever's free, nothing slips.
Real estate
A local number doesn't get screened like an out-of-province one. Every call and text stays on the contact record.
Health & clinics
A voice menu routes to scheduling or billing; after hours, urgent calls go through, the rest to voicemail.
Professional services
Accountants, lawyers, advisors: every call is logged, and an AI summary lists action items after the conversation.
Sales
Reps prospect with a local caller ID — picked up more often than an unknown or toll-free number.
Retail & delivery
Order confirmations and delivery windows by SMS from the same local number customers already know.
Get a 604 number in 3 steps
- 1Connect your telecom account (Twilio or Telnyx) — your credentials are encrypted, never exposed.
- 2Pick a number with the 604 area code, or port an existing 604 number.
- 3Your team calls and texts from the browser, on a shared number.
Nearby and related area codes
Other area codes near 604 or covering the same region.
See all Canadian area codes How a virtual phone number works
Porting an existing 604 number
If you already have a 604 number, you do not have to change it. Number portability is a regulated right in Canada: your current provider cannot hold on to a number that belongs to you. The transfer goes to your own telecom account, not ours, which means the number stays in your name once it lands.
In practice you need a recent bill from the current provider and a signed authorisation. Timing depends on the line type, typically a few business days. The line keeps working during the transfer: the switch happens on an agreed date, not into a void.
What a 604 number really costs
There are two bills, and that is deliberate. Relay software comes from us, in Canadian dollars, billed per team with seats included. Telecom comes from your provider, at their published rate, on an account in your name. We do not resell the minute and we take no margin on it.
The consequence is easy to verify: you can open your provider's dashboard and see the real price of every call and every text. That is what changes as volume grows, because a hidden margin on the minute costs more and more the more you call.
Texting from a Canadian number: what to know
Since March 2025, a Canadian number used for business texting requires A2P 10DLC registration or identity verification with the carrier. Many sites still present this as an American matter: it is not, the rule also applies to texting a Canadian customer from a 604 number. The process happens on your own telecom account, with your business details, and like the number it stays yours.
604 or 778, 236, 672: which one?
These codes cover the same territory, down to the street. Technically they are equivalent: same local zone, same rates, same ten-digit dialling. The only real difference is age. Since 604 has been in service since 1947, it reads as the most established, and it is also the hardest to get. The newer overlays offer identical reach with far better availability.
The more useful question is how many numbers you need. A business serving several cities often does better opening one per market than forcing a single number on everyone: the local listing shows the expected code, and the calls still land in the same shared inbox. Because the numbers live on your own telecom account, adding one does not mean renegotiating anything.
One last point, often forgotten: the number you display has to be the one that rings when somebody calls back. A local code on a listing followed by a callback from a placeless number cancels the whole benefit. That is why the outbound call goes out from the same 604 number as the inbound one.