Phone prefixes in Saint-Raphael, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

3

Telephone numbers covered

30,000

Carriers

3

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

August 7, 2007

Most recent assignment

May 24, 2018

Saint-Raphael’s share of its area codes

Within area code 418, Saint-Raphael accounts for only 2 of 777 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 258 rate centres. Within area code 581, Saint-Raphael accounts for only 1 of 778 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 232 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 2 other carriers. Code by code: in 418, TELUS Quebec leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; Bell Canada is the only holder in 581. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Saint-Raphael’s 2 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

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

How the allocation was built up

Saint-Raphael’s dated assignments run from 2007 to 2018. The busiest period was 2005–2009, 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. No prefix has been added since 2020: demand for numbers in Saint-Raphael is flat.

Saint-Raphael’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS Quebec: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Videotron Ltd. in 2007. The most recent arrivals are Bell Canada (2018) and Videotron Ltd. (2007), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Saint-Raphael.

Saint-Raphael 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.

No single carrier dominates Saint-Raphael: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 33.3% of the prefixes against 2 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 2005–2009, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Saint-Raphael numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

The register also shows 1 prefix assigned but not yet in service in Saint-Raphael (Cogeco Connexion Inc): numbers that will start showing up on call displays in the coming months.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Saint-Raphael number

Saint-Raphael is served by 2 overlaid area codes (418 and 581). A 581 number is no more “out of town” than a 418 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Saint-Raphael shares area codes 418 and 581 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Quebec, Chicoutimi, Rimouski, Alma, Riviere-du-Loup, Thetford Mines, Levis and Saint-Georges-de-Beauce. The largest of them, Quebec, holds 245 prefixes in 418 and 581; the smallest on the list, Chibougamau, has just 11.

What a Saint-Raphael number tells you

A number attached to Saint-Raphael 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 3 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 Saint-Raphael: code 581-759 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 581-759-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Saint-Raphael, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Saint-Raphael prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Quebec