Phone prefixes in Baie-des-Sables, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

2

Telephone numbers covered

20,000

Carriers

2

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

August 22, 2013

Most recent assignment

August 22, 2013

Baie-des-Sables’s share of its area codes

Within area code 418, Baie-des-Sables accounts for only 1 of 777 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 258 rate centres. Within area code 581, Baie-des-Sables accounts for only 1 of 778 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 232 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS Quebec holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 50.0% of the total, ahead of 1 other carrier. Code by code: TELUS Quebec is the only holder in 418; Telecommunications Xittel Inc is the only holder in 581. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Baie-des-Sables’s 2 area codes, while 2 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Baie-des-Sables’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 2 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS Quebec and Telecommunications Xittel Inc. A call showing a Baie-des-Sables number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Baie-des-Sables’s dated assignments run from 2013 to 2013. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 1 prefixes (50%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. No prefix has been added since 2020: demand for numbers in Baie-des-Sables is flat.

Baie-des-Sables’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS Quebec: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Telecommunications Xittel Inc in 2013. The most recent arrivals are Telecommunications Xittel Inc (2013), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Baie-des-Sables.

Baie-des-Sables has just 2 prefixes (20,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

TELUS Quebec leads with 50.0% of the prefixes, but 1 competitors have set up in Baie-des-Sables: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Allocation is mature: only 0.0% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2010–2014, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Baie-des-Sables numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

Dialling a Baie-des-Sables number

Baie-des-Sables is served by 2 overlaid area codes (418 and 581). A 581 number is no more “out of town” than a 418 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Baie-des-Sables shares area codes 418 and 581 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Quebec, Chicoutimi, Rimouski, Alma, Riviere-du-Loup, Thetford Mines, Levis and Saint-Georges-de-Beauce. The largest of them, Quebec, holds 245 prefixes in 418 and 581; the smallest on the list, Chibougamau, has just 11.

What a Baie-des-Sables number tells you

A number attached to Baie-des-Sables tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, most often TELUS Quebec. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 2 carriers present here or to a VoIP service usable anywhere. Nor does it tell you who is calling: caller ID can be spoofed, and a Quebec area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Baie-des-Sables: code 581-396 is recorded for Telecommunications Xittel Inc, so every 581-396-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Baie-des-Sables, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Baie-des-Sables prefix

Each row is an in-service central-office code recorded for Baie-des-Sables, with its original holder and year of assignment.

Had a call from a Baie-des-Sables number?

No clear pattern in reports on these numbers yet. If a call worried you:

1. Call back on a number you trust

   If a caller says they are your bank, the Canada Revenue Agency, a courier or your phone company, hang up and call the organization on the number from its website or your statement, never the number that called you. Caller ID can be faked.

2. Report the fraud

   Report the call or text to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online or at 1-888-495-8501. If you lost money or gave out personal details, tell your bank first, then your local police.

   Report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre ↗

3. Register on the National Do Not Call List

   Registering a landline or mobile on the National DNCL is free. Registered charities, political parties, newspapers and companies you already do business with may still call.

   National Do Not Call List ↗Who can still call you ↗

4. Forward suspicious texts to 7726

   Forward a scam or spam text to 7726 (SPAM on the keypad). It's free, and your carrier uses it to block the sender. Don't tap links or reply.

   Get Cyber Safe: forwarding to 7726 ↗

Allocated prefixes

All 2 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec