Phone prefixes in Valcartier, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

8

Telephone numbers covered

80,000

Carriers

7

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

December 2, 2005

Most recent assignment

June 20, 2022

Valcartier’s share of its area codes

Within area code 581, Valcartier accounts for only 5 of 778 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 232 rate centres. Within area code 418, Valcartier accounts for only 2 of 777 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 258 rate centres. Within area code 367, Valcartier accounts for only 1 of 232 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 110 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 581, Videotron Ltd. leads with 1 of 5 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 418, Videotron Ltd. leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; IXICA Communications Inc. is the only holder in 367. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Valcartier’s 3 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Valcartier’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, Distributel and Fibernetics Corporation. A call showing a Valcartier number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Valcartier’s dated assignments run from 2005 to 2022. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 3 prefixes went to 3 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 3 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Valcartier’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 IXICA Communications Inc. (2022), Fibernetics Corporation (2021) and ISP Telecom Inc. (2020), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Valcartier.

Valcartier 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 Valcartier: 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.

Demand remains steady: 42.9% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2020–2024. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Valcartier number

Valcartier is served by 3 overlaid area codes (581, 418 and 367). A 367 number is no more “out of town” than a 581 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Valcartier shares area codes 581, 418 and 367 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Quebec, Chicoutimi, Alma, Rimouski, Riviere-du-Loup, Thetford Mines, Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce and Levis. The largest of them, Quebec, holds 282 prefixes in 367, 418 and 581; the smallest on the list, Saint-Henri-de-Levis, has just 16.

What a Valcartier number tells you

A number attached to Valcartier 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 Valcartier: code 581-376 is recorded for Videotron Ltd., so every 581-376-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Valcartier, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Valcartier prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Quebec