Phone prefixes in Ste-Marguerite, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

3

Telephone numbers covered

30,000

Carriers

3

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

February 23, 2017

Most recent assignment

July 7, 2023

Ste-Marguerite’s share of its area codes

Within area code 579, Ste-Marguerite accounts for only 2 of 644 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Granby and spread over 126 rate centres. Within area code 450, Ste-Marguerite accounts for only 1 of 775 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Granby and spread over 129 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 579, Cooptel leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; Bell Canada is the only holder in 450. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Ste-Marguerite’s 2 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

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

How the allocation was built up

Ste-Marguerite’s dated assignments run from 2017 to 2023. 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.

Ste-Marguerite’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 TELUS Quebec in 2017. The most recent arrivals are Cooptel (2023) and TELUS Quebec (2017), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Ste-Marguerite.

Ste-Marguerite 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 Ste-Marguerite: 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.

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

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Ste-Marguerite number

Ste-Marguerite is served by 2 overlaid area codes (579 and 450). A 450 number is no more “out of town” than a 579 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Ste-Marguerite shares area codes 579 and 450 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 Ste-Marguerite number tells you

A number attached to Ste-Marguerite 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 Ste-Marguerite: code 450-228 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 450-228-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Ste-Marguerite, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Ste-Marguerite prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Quebec