Phone prefixes in Caplan, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

3

Telephone numbers covered

30,000

Carriers

2

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

February 24, 2011

Most recent assignment

May 17, 2018

Caplan’s share of its area codes

Within area code 581, Caplan accounts for only 2 of 778 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 232 rate centres. Within area code 418, Caplan accounts for only 1 of 777 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 258 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS Quebec holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 66.7% of the total, ahead of 1 other carrier. Code by code: in 581, TELUS Quebec leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; TELUS Quebec is the only holder in 418. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of Caplan’s 2 area codes, while 1 appears in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Caplan’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 3 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS Quebec and Bell Canada. A call showing a Caplan number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Caplan’s dated assignments run from 2011 to 2018. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 1 prefixes (33%) 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 Caplan is flat.

Caplan’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 TELUS Quebec in 2011. The most recent arrivals are Bell Canada (2018) and TELUS Quebec (2011), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Caplan.

Caplan has just 3 prefixes (30,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

TELUS Quebec leads with 66.7% of the prefixes, but 1 competitors have set up in Caplan: 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 Caplan numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Caplan number

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

The numbering neighbourhood

Caplan shares area codes 581 and 418 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 Caplan number tells you

A number attached to Caplan 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 Caplan: code 581-363 is recorded for TELUS Quebec, so every 581-363-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Caplan, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Caplan prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 3 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec