Phone prefixes in Puvirnituk, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

3

Telephone numbers covered

30,000

Carriers

2

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 13, 2016

Most recent assignment

May 23, 2024

Puvirnituk’s share of its area codes

Within area code 873, Puvirnituk accounts for only 2 of 667 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Sherbrooke and spread over 162 rate centres. Within area code 819, Puvirnituk 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

Iristel Inc. holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 66.7% of the total, ahead of 1 other carrier. Code by code: Iristel Inc. is the only holder in 873; Bell Canada is the only holder in 819. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Puvirnituk’s 2 area codes, while 2 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Puvirnituk’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 3 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Iristel Inc and Bell Canada. A call showing a Puvirnituk number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Puvirnituk’s dated assignments run from 2016 to 2024. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 1 prefixes (33%) 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.

Puvirnituk’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 Iristel Inc. in 2016. The most recent arrivals are Iristel Inc. (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Puvirnituk.

Puvirnituk has just 3 prefixes (30,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

Iristel Inc. leads with 66.7% of the prefixes, but 1 competitors have set up in Puvirnituk: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

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

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Puvirnituk number

Puvirnituk 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

Puvirnituk 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 Puvirnituk number tells you

A number attached to Puvirnituk tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, most often Iristel Inc.. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 2 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 Puvirnituk: code 873-501 is recorded for Iristel Inc., so every 873-501-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Puvirnituk, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Puvirnituk prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 3 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec