Phone prefixes in Frontenac, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

4

Telephone numbers covered

40,000

Carriers

3

Area codes

1

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

July 19, 2012

Most recent assignment

October 22, 2025

Frontenac’s share of its area code

Within area code 873, Frontenac accounts for only 4 of 667 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Sherbrooke and spread over 162 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Videotron Ltd. holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 50.0% of the total, ahead of 2 other carriers. Code by code: in 873, Videotron Ltd. leads with 2 of 4 prefixes ahead of 2 others.

Wireless and wireline

None of Frontenac’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 4 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Videotron Ltd, TELUS Quebec and Telebec Ltee. A call showing a Frontenac number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Frontenac’s dated assignments run from 2012 to 2025. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. Every assignment is dated, the sign of a rate centre built entirely within the period CNAC has kept dated records. Since 2020 another 1 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

None of Frontenac’s prefixes predates the dated records: the rate centre was built entirely in the competitive era. The first dated assignment went to Telebec Ltee. in 2012. The most recent arrivals are TELUS Quebec (2025), Videotron Ltd. (2012) and Telebec Ltee. (2012), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Frontenac.

Frontenac has just 4 prefixes (40,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

Videotron Ltd. leads with 50.0% of the prefixes, but 2 competitors have set up in Frontenac: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Demand remains steady: 25.0% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2010–2014. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

Dialling a Frontenac number

A single area code, 873, covers Frontenac, and it is not overlaid with any other code on this territory: one of the few parts of Canada where seven-digit local dialling may still work. From abroad, dial +1 873 and the seven-digit number.

The numbering neighbourhood

Frontenac shares area code 873 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Sherbrooke, Ottawa-Hull, Trois-Rivieres, Drummondville, Victoriaville, Gatineau, Maniwaki and Amos. The largest of them, Sherbrooke, holds 39 prefixes in 873; the smallest on the list, Bouchette, has just 6.

What a Frontenac number tells you

A number attached to Frontenac 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 3 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 Frontenac: code 873-461 is recorded for Videotron Ltd., so every 873-461-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Frontenac, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality.

Every Frontenac prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 4 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec