Phone prefixes in Dolbeau, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

7

Telephone numbers covered

70,000

Carriers

5

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 26, 2006

Most recent assignment

August 25, 2016

Dolbeau’s share of its area codes

Within area code 418, Dolbeau accounts for only 4 of 777 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 258 rate centres. Within area code 581, Dolbeau accounts for only 3 of 778 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 232 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 28.6% of the total, ahead of 4 other carriers. Code by code: in 418, Bell Canada leads with 2 of 4 prefixes ahead of 1 others; in 581, ISP Telecom Inc. leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Dolbeau’s 2 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

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

How the allocation was built up

Dolbeau’s dated assignments run from 2006 to 2016. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 2 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 2 prefixes (29%) 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 Dolbeau is flat.

Dolbeau’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 2006. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2016), TELUS Quebec (2014) and Telecommunications Xittel Inc (2012), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Dolbeau.

Dolbeau 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.

No single carrier dominates Dolbeau: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 28.6% of the prefixes against 4 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 0.0% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2005–2009, and 2 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Dolbeau numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Dolbeau number

Dolbeau 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

Dolbeau 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 Dolbeau number tells you

A number attached to Dolbeau 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 5 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 Dolbeau: code 418-239 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 418-239-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Dolbeau, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Dolbeau prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Quebec