Phone prefixes in Stoke, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

8

Telephone numbers covered

80,000

Carriers

7

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

March 9, 2005

Most recent assignment

January 23, 2024

Stoke’s share of its area codes

Within area code 819, Stoke accounts for only 4 of 770 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 211 rate centres. Within area code 873, Stoke accounts for only 3 of 667 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Sherbrooke and spread over 162 rate centres. Within area code 468, Stoke accounts for only 1 of 67 prefixes (1.5%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 57 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Videotron Ltd. holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 25.0% of the total, ahead of 6 other carriers. Code by code: in 819, Videotron Ltd. leads with 2 of 4 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 873, Distributel leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; IXICA Communications Inc. is the only holder in 468. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Stoke’s 3 area codes, while 7 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Stoke’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 8 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Videotron Ltd, Bell Canada, Cooptel and Distributel. A call showing a Stoke number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Stoke’s dated assignments run from 2005 to 2024. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 4 prefixes went to 4 carriers. 1 prefixes (13%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 4 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Stoke’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 (2024), IXICA Communications Inc. (2022) and Cooptel (2021), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Stoke.

Stoke has just 8 prefixes (80,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Stoke: the leader, Videotron Ltd., holds only 25.0% of the prefixes against 6 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: 57.1% of the dated prefixes were assigned in the last ten years, peaking in 2020–2024. Stoke is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Stoke number

Stoke is served by 3 overlaid area codes (819, 873 and 468). A 468 number is no more “out of town” than a 819 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Stoke shares area codes 819, 873 and 468 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Ottawa-Hull, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivieres, Drummondville, Victoriaville, Gatineau, Val-D'Or and Maniwaki. The largest of them, Ottawa-Hull, holds 122 prefixes in 468, 819 and 873; the smallest on the list, Ville-Marie, has just 12.

What a Stoke number tells you

A number attached to Stoke 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 7 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 Stoke: code 819-258 is recorded for Videotron Ltd., so every 819-258-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Stoke, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Stoke prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 8 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec