Phone prefixes in Shawbridge, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

4

Telephone numbers covered

40,000

Carriers

3

Area codes

1

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

April 5, 2005

Most recent assignment

February 29, 2008

Shawbridge’s share of its area code

Within area code 450, Shawbridge accounts for only 4 of 775 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Granby and spread over 129 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Videotron Ltd. holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 50.0% of the total, ahead of 2 other carriers. Code by code: in 450, Videotron Ltd. leads with 2 of 4 prefixes ahead of 2 others.

Wireless and wireline

None of Shawbridge’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 4 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Videotron Ltd, Bell Canada and TELUS Quebec. A call showing a Shawbridge number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Shawbridge’s dated assignments run from 2005 to 2008. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 3 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 1 prefixes (25%) 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 Shawbridge is flat.

Shawbridge’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 2005. The most recent arrivals are TELUS Quebec (2008) and Videotron Ltd. (2005), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Shawbridge.

Shawbridge has just 4 prefixes (40,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

Videotron Ltd. leads with 50.0% of the prefixes, but 2 competitors have set up in Shawbridge: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

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 Shawbridge numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

Dialling a Shawbridge number

A single area code, 450, covers Shawbridge, and it is not overlaid with any other code on this territory: one of the few parts of Canada where seven-digit local dialling may still work. From abroad, dial +1 450 and the seven-digit number.

The numbering neighbourhood

Shawbridge shares area code 450 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Granby, St-Jerome, Joliette, St-Lambert, Longueuil, St-Hyacinthe, Pont-Viau and Sorel. The largest of them, Granby, holds 31 prefixes in 450; the smallest on the list, Terrebonne, has just 11.

What a Shawbridge number tells you

A number attached to Shawbridge 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 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 Shawbridge: code 450-335 is recorded for Videotron Ltd., so every 450-335-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Shawbridge, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality.

Every Shawbridge prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 4 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec