Phone prefixes in Cookshire, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

9

Telephone numbers covered

90,000

Carriers

8

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 8, 2013

Most recent assignment

June 23, 2023

Cookshire’s share of its area codes

Within area code 873, Cookshire accounts for only 6 of 667 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Sherbrooke and spread over 162 rate centres. Within area code 468, Cookshire accounts for only 2 of 67 prefixes (3.0%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 57 rate centres. Within area code 819, Cookshire accounts for only 1 of 770 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 211 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Fibernetics Corporation holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 22.2% of the total, ahead of 7 other carriers. Code by code: in 873, Fibernetics Corporation leads with 2 of 6 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 468, ISP Telecom Inc. leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; Bell Canada is the only holder in 819. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Cookshire’s 3 area codes, while 8 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Cookshire’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 9 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Fibernetics Corporation, Bell Canada, Cooptel and Distributel. A call showing a Cookshire number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Cookshire’s dated assignments run from 2013 to 2023. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 5 prefixes went to 4 carriers. 1 prefixes (11%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 5 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Cookshire’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 Cooptel in 2013. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2023), IXICA Communications Inc. (2022) and TELUS Quebec (2022), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Cookshire.

Cookshire has just 9 prefixes (90,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Cookshire: the leader, Fibernetics Corporation, holds only 22.2% of the prefixes against 7 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Growth is recent: 62.5% of the dated prefixes were assigned in the last ten years, peaking in 2020–2024. Cookshire is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Cookshire number

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

The numbering neighbourhood

Cookshire shares area codes 873, 468 and 819 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 Cookshire number tells you

A number attached to Cookshire tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, most often Fibernetics Corporation. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 8 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 Cookshire: code 873-346 is recorded for Fibernetics Corporation, so every 873-346-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Cookshire, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Cookshire prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 9 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec