Phone prefixes in Mascouche, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

13

Telephone numbers covered

130,000

Carriers

5

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

April 30, 2004

Most recent assignment

September 30, 2021

Mascouche’s share of its area codes

Within area code 450, Mascouche 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, Mascouche accounts for only 3 of 644 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Granby and spread over 126 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Videotron Ltd. holds the largest share at 5 prefixes, 38.5% of the total, ahead of 4 other carriers. Code by code: in 450, Videotron Ltd. leads with 4 of 10 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 579, Videotron Ltd. leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others. 2 carriers hold prefixes in every one of Mascouche’s 2 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Mascouche’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 13 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Videotron Ltd, Bell Canada, TELUS Quebec and Fibernetics Corporation. A call showing a Mascouche number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Mascouche’s dated assignments run from 2004 to 2021. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 4 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 4 prefixes (31%) 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.

Mascouche’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 Fibernetics Corporation (2021), ISP Telecom Inc. (2006) and TELUS Quebec (2006), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Mascouche.

Mascouche has only 13 prefixes, or 130,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Mascouche: the leader, Videotron Ltd., holds only 38.5% 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.

Allocation is mature: only 11.1% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2005–2009, and 4 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Mascouche numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

4 undated in the register.

Dialling a Mascouche number

Mascouche 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

Mascouche 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 Mascouche number tells you

A number attached to Mascouche 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 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 Mascouche: code 450-325 is recorded for Videotron Ltd., so every 450-325-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Mascouche, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Mascouche prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 13 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec