Phone prefixes in Valcourt, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

3

Telephone numbers covered

30,000

Carriers

3

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

December 24, 2012

Most recent assignment

January 21, 2020

Valcourt’s share of its area codes

Within area code 579, Valcourt 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, Valcourt 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

CoopTel de telecommunication holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 2 other carriers. Code by code: in 579, TELUS Quebec leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; CoopTel de telecommunication is the only holder in 450. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Valcourt’s 2 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Valcourt’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 3 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them CoopTel de telecommunication, TELUS Quebec and Videotron Ltd. A call showing a Valcourt number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Valcourt’s dated assignments run from 2012 to 2020. The busiest period was 2010–2014, 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.

Valcourt’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to CoopTel de telecommunication: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to TELUS Quebec in 2012. The most recent arrivals are Videotron Ltd. (2020) and TELUS Quebec (2012), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Valcourt.

Valcourt 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 Valcourt: the leader, CoopTel de telecommunication, 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 2010–2014. Valcourt is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Valcourt number

Valcourt 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

Valcourt 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 Valcourt number tells you

A number attached to Valcourt tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, most often CoopTel de telecommunication. 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 Valcourt: code 450-532 is recorded for CoopTel de telecommunication, so every 450-532-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Valcourt, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Valcourt prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Quebec