Phone prefixes in Thurso, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

7

Telephone numbers covered

70,000

Carriers

6

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

December 29, 2004

Most recent assignment

March 18, 2021

Thurso’s share of its area codes

Within area code 873, Thurso accounts for only 4 of 667 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Sherbrooke and spread over 162 rate centres. Within area code 819, Thurso accounts for only 3 of 770 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 211 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Videotron Ltd. holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 28.6% of the total, ahead of 5 other carriers. Code by code: in 873, Distributel leads with 1 of 4 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 819, Videotron Ltd. leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Thurso’s 2 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Thurso’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 7 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Videotron Ltd, Bell Canada, Distributel and Fibernetics Corporation. A call showing a Thurso number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Thurso’s dated assignments run from 2004 to 2021. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 1 prefixes (14%) 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.

Thurso’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 2004. The most recent arrivals are Fibernetics Corporation (2021), Distributel (2018) and InnSysVoice Corp (2018), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Thurso.

Thurso has just 7 prefixes (70,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Thurso: the leader, Videotron Ltd., holds only 28.6% of the prefixes against 5 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 16.7% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Thurso numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Thurso number

Thurso 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

Thurso 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 Thurso number tells you

A number attached to Thurso 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 6 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 Thurso: code 819-659 is recorded for Videotron Ltd., so every 819-659-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Thurso, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Thurso prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 7 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec