Phone prefixes in Chomedey, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

33

Telephone numbers covered

330,000

Carriers

13

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

July 17, 2000

Most recent assignment

February 6, 2024

Chomedey’s share of its area codes

Within area code 450, Chomedey accounts for only 20 of 775 prefixes (2.6%): the code is dominated by Granby and spread over 129 rate centres. Within area code 579, Chomedey accounts for only 13 of 644 prefixes (2.0%): the code is dominated by Granby and spread over 126 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 9 prefixes, 27.3% of the total, ahead of 12 other carriers. Code by code: in 450, Bell Canada leads with 8 of 20 prefixes ahead of 8 others; in 579, TELUS Quebec leads with 3 of 13 prefixes ahead of 8 others. 5 carriers hold prefixes in every one of Chomedey’s 2 area codes, while 8 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

2 of Chomedey’s 33 prefixes (6.1%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Fido Solutions Inc. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Bell Canada, TELUS Quebec, Videotron Ltd and Iristel Inc. This is a sort by name, not a licence lookup, and a mobile prefix may have been ported to another network since.

How the allocation was built up

Chomedey’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2024. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 7 prefixes went to 6 carriers. 8 prefixes (24%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 4 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Chomedey’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Bell Canada: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Zayo Canada Inc. in 2000. The most recent arrivals are IXICA Communications Inc. (2021), Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable) (2017) and Bell Canada (2017), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Chomedey.

Chomedey’s 33 prefixes provide 330,000 numbers, which corresponds to a mid-sized city or a well-established suburb that every major carrier wants a slice of.

No single carrier dominates Chomedey: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 27.3% of the prefixes against 12 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Allocation is mature: only 16.0% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2010–2014, and 8 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Chomedey numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

8 undated in the register.

Dialling a Chomedey number

Chomedey is served by 2 overlaid area codes (450 and 579). A 579 number is no more “out of town” than a 450 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Chomedey shares area codes 450 and 579 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Granby, Joliette, St-Jerome, St-Hyacinthe, Longueuil, Ste-Therese, Pont-Viau and Sorel. The largest of them, Granby, holds 51 prefixes in 450 and 579; the smallest on the list, Terrebonne, has just 17.

What a Chomedey number tells you

A number attached to Chomedey tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, most often Bell Canada. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 13 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 Chomedey: code 450-680 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 450-680-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Chomedey, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Chomedey prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 33 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec