Phone prefixes in Huntingdon, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

6

Telephone numbers covered

60,000

Carriers

6

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 25, 2012

Most recent assignment

July 12, 2022

Huntingdon’s share of its area codes

Within area code 579, Huntingdon accounts for only 3 of 644 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Granby and spread over 126 rate centres. Within area code 450, Huntingdon accounts for only 2 of 775 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Granby and spread over 129 rate centres. Within area code 354, Huntingdon accounts for only 1 of 56 prefixes (1.8%): the code is dominated by Valleyfield and spread over 49 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 16.7% of the total, ahead of 5 other carriers. Code by code: in 579, Distributel leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 450, Bell Canada leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; IXICA Communications Inc. is the only holder in 354. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Huntingdon’s 3 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Huntingdon’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 6 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Bell Canada, Distributel, ISP Telecom Inc and IXICA Communications Inc. A call showing a Huntingdon number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Huntingdon’s dated assignments run from 2012 to 2022. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 1 prefixes (17%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 2 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Huntingdon’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 2012. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2022), IXICA Communications Inc. (2022) and Distributel (2018), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Huntingdon.

Huntingdon has just 6 prefixes (60,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Huntingdon: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 16.7% of the prefixes against 5 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Demand remains steady: 40.0% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2015–2019. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Huntingdon number

Huntingdon is served by 3 overlaid area codes (579, 450 and 354). A 354 number is no more “out of town” than a 579 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Huntingdon shares area codes 579, 450 and 354 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Granby, Joliette, St-Jerome, St-Hyacinthe, Longueuil, Ste-Therese, St-Lambert and Sorel. The largest of them, Granby, holds 52 prefixes in 354, 450 and 579; the smallest on the list, Beloeil, has just 17.

What a Huntingdon number tells you

A number attached to Huntingdon 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 6 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 Huntingdon: code 450-264 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 450-264-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Huntingdon, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Huntingdon prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 6 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec