Phone prefixes in Coaticook, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

7

Telephone numbers covered

70,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

March 18, 2005

Most recent assignment

May 28, 2025

Coaticook’s share of its area codes

Within area code 819, Coaticook accounts for only 4 of 770 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 211 rate centres. Within area code 873, Coaticook accounts for only 2 of 667 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Sherbrooke and spread over 162 rate centres. Within area code 468, Coaticook accounts for only 1 of 67 prefixes (1.5%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 57 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Videotron Ltd. holds the largest share at 4 prefixes, 57.1% of the total, ahead of 3 other carriers. Code by code: in 819, Videotron Ltd. leads with 3 of 4 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 873, Videotron Ltd. leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; Cogeco Connexion Inc. is the only holder in 468. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Coaticook’s 3 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Coaticook’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 7 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Videotron Ltd, Bell Canada, Cogeco Connexion Inc and TELUS Quebec. A call showing a Coaticook number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Coaticook’s dated assignments run from 2005 to 2025. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 2 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 1 prefixes (14%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 1 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Coaticook’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 Videotron Ltd. in 2005. The most recent arrivals are Cogeco Connexion Inc. (2025), TELUS Quebec (2014) and Videotron Ltd. (2005), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Coaticook.

Coaticook has just 7 prefixes (70,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

Videotron Ltd. leads with 57.1% of the prefixes, but 3 competitors have set up in Coaticook: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Allocation is mature: only 16.7% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2005–2009, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Coaticook numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Coaticook number

Coaticook is served by 3 overlaid area codes (819, 873 and 468). A 468 number is no more “out of town” than a 819 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Coaticook shares area codes 819, 873 and 468 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Ottawa-Hull, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivieres, Drummondville, Victoriaville, Gatineau, Val-D'Or and Maniwaki. The largest of them, Ottawa-Hull, holds 122 prefixes in 468, 819 and 873; the smallest on the list, Ville-Marie, has just 12.

What a Coaticook number tells you

A number attached to Coaticook tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, most often Videotron Ltd.. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 4 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 Coaticook: code 819-502 is recorded for Videotron Ltd., so every 819-502-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Coaticook, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Coaticook prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 7 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec