Phone prefixes in Low, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

5

Telephone numbers covered

50,000

Carriers

5

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

September 23, 2015

Most recent assignment

March 18, 2021

Low’s share of its area codes

Within area code 873, Low accounts for only 4 of 667 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Sherbrooke and spread over 162 rate centres. Within area code 819, Low accounts for only 1 of 770 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 211 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 20.0% of the total, ahead of 4 other carriers. Code by code: in 873, Distributel leads with 1 of 4 prefixes ahead of 3 others; Bell Canada is the only holder in 819. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Low’s 2 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Low’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 5 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Bell Canada, Distributel, Fibernetics Corporation and TELUS Quebec. A call showing a Low number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Low’s dated assignments run from 2015 to 2021. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 1 prefixes (20%) 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.

Low’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 TekSavvy Solutions Inc in 2015. The most recent arrivals are Fibernetics Corporation (2021), TELUS Quebec (2021) and Distributel (2018), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Low.

Low has just 5 prefixes (50,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Low: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 20.0% 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.

Growth is recent: 50.0% of the dated prefixes were assigned in the last ten years, peaking in 2015–2019. Low is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Low number

Low is served by 2 overlaid area codes (873 and 819). A 819 number is no more “out of town” than a 873 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Low shares area codes 873 and 819 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Ottawa-Hull, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivieres, Drummondville, Gatineau, Victoriaville, Val-D'Or and Maniwaki. The largest of them, Ottawa-Hull, holds 119 prefixes in 819 and 873; the smallest on the list, Ville-Marie, has just 12.

What a Low number tells you

A number attached to Low 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 Low: code 819-422 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 819-422-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Low, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Low prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 5 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec