Phone prefixes in Laprairie, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

16

Telephone numbers covered

160,000

Carriers

9

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

April 20, 2004

Most recent assignment

May 10, 2022

Laprairie’s share of its area codes

Within area code 450, Laprairie accounts for only 10 of 775 prefixes (1.3%): the code is dominated by Granby and spread over 129 rate centres. Within area code 579, Laprairie accounts for only 5 of 644 prefixes (0.8%): the code is dominated by Granby and spread over 126 rate centres. Within area code 354, Laprairie 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

Videotron Ltd. holds the largest share at 4 prefixes, 25.0% of the total, ahead of 8 other carriers. Code by code: in 450, Videotron Ltd. leads with 4 of 10 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 579, Iristel Inc. leads with 2 of 5 prefixes ahead of 3 others; IXICA Communications Inc. is the only holder in 354. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Laprairie’s 3 area codes, while 8 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Laprairie’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 16 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Videotron Ltd, Bell Canada, Iristel Inc and Comwave Networks. A call showing a Laprairie number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Laprairie’s dated assignments run from 2004 to 2022. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 6 prefixes went to 6 carriers. 3 prefixes (19%) 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.

Laprairie’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 2004. The most recent arrivals are IXICA Communications Inc. (2022), TELUS Quebec (2013) and Comwave Networks (2013), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Laprairie.

Laprairie has only 16 prefixes, or 160,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Laprairie: the leader, Videotron Ltd., holds only 25.0% of the prefixes against 8 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 7.7% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2010–2014, and 3 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Laprairie numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

3 undated in the register.

Dialling a Laprairie number

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

The numbering neighbourhood

Laprairie shares area codes 450, 579 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 Laprairie number tells you

A number attached to Laprairie 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 9 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 Laprairie: code 450-695 is recorded for Videotron Ltd., so every 450-695-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Laprairie, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Laprairie prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 16 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec