Phone prefixes in Le Gardeur, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

16

Telephone numbers covered

160,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

April 29, 2004

Most recent assignment

March 13, 2017

Le Gardeur’s share of its area codes

Within area code 450, Le Gardeur accounts for only 11 of 775 prefixes (1.4%): the code is dominated by Granby and spread over 129 rate centres. Within area code 579, Le Gardeur accounts for only 5 of 644 prefixes (0.8%): the code is dominated by Granby and spread over 126 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 6 prefixes, 37.5% of the total, ahead of 3 other carriers. Code by code: in 450, Bell Canada leads with 6 of 11 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 579, TELUS Quebec leads with 2 of 5 prefixes ahead of 2 others. 2 carriers hold prefixes in every one of Le Gardeur’s 2 area codes, while 2 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

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

How the allocation was built up

Le Gardeur’s dated assignments run from 2004 to 2017. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 6 prefixes (38%) 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 Le Gardeur is flat.

Le Gardeur’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 ISP Telecom Inc. (2013), TELUS Quebec (2004) and Videotron Ltd. (2004), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Le Gardeur.

Le Gardeur 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 Le Gardeur: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 37.5% of the prefixes against 3 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 2010–2014, and 6 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Le Gardeur numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

6 undated in the register.

Dialling a Le Gardeur number

Le Gardeur is served by 2 overlaid area codes (450 and 579). A 579 number is no more “out of town” than a 450 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Le Gardeur shares area codes 450 and 579 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Granby, Joliette, St-Jerome, St-Hyacinthe, Longueuil, Ste-Therese, Pont-Viau and Sorel. The largest of them, Granby, holds 51 prefixes in 450 and 579; the smallest on the list, Lachute, has just 17.

What a Le Gardeur number tells you

A number attached to Le Gardeur 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 4 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 Le Gardeur: code 450-470 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 450-470-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Le Gardeur, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Le Gardeur prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Quebec