Phone prefixes in Warwick, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

4

Telephone numbers covered

40,000

Carriers

2

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

December 7, 2012

Most recent assignment

March 26, 2018

Warwick’s share of its area codes

Within area code 819, Warwick accounts for only 3 of 770 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 211 rate centres. Within area code 873, Warwick accounts for only 1 of 667 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Sherbrooke and spread over 162 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Videotron Ltd. holds the largest share at 3 prefixes, 75.0% of the total, ahead of 1 other carrier. Code by code: in 819, Videotron Ltd. leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others; Videotron Ltd. is the only holder in 873. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of Warwick’s 2 area codes, while 1 appears in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Warwick’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 4 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Videotron Ltd and Telephone Milot Inc. A call showing a Warwick number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Warwick’s dated assignments run from 2012 to 2018. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 2 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 1 prefixes (25%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. No prefix has been added since 2020: demand for numbers in Warwick is flat.

Warwick’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Telephone Milot Inc: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Videotron Ltd. in 2012. The most recent arrivals are Videotron Ltd. (2012), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Warwick.

Warwick has just 4 prefixes (40,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

Allocation is dominated by Videotron Ltd., which holds 75.0% of the prefixes; the other 1 carriers share the remainder, reflecting the weight of the incumbent in communities of this size.

Allocation is mature: only 0.0% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2010–2014, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Warwick numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Warwick number

Warwick is served by 2 overlaid area codes (819 and 873). A 873 number is no more “out of town” than a 819 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Warwick shares area codes 819 and 873 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 Warwick number tells you

A number attached to Warwick 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 2 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 Warwick: code 819-559 is recorded for Videotron Ltd., so every 819-559-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Warwick, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Warwick prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 4 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec