Phone prefixes in Waterloo, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

10

Telephone numbers covered

100,000

Carriers

9

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

April 30, 2004

Most recent assignment

November 12, 2021

Waterloo’s share of its area codes

Within area code 579, Waterloo accounts for only 7 of 644 prefixes (1.1%): the code is dominated by Granby and spread over 126 rate centres. Within area code 450, Waterloo accounts for only 3 of 775 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Granby and spread over 129 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Videotron Ltd. holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 20.0% of the total, ahead of 8 other carriers. Code by code: in 579, Comwave Networks leads with 1 of 7 prefixes ahead of 6 others; in 450, Videotron Ltd. leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Waterloo’s 2 area codes, while 9 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Waterloo’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 10 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Videotron Ltd, Bell Canada, Comwave Networks and Cooptel. A call showing a Waterloo number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Waterloo’s dated assignments run from 2004 to 2021. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 4 prefixes went to 4 carriers. 1 prefixes (10%) 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.

Waterloo’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 IXICA Communications Inc. (2021), ISP Telecom Inc. (2021) and TELUS Quebec (2021), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Waterloo.

Waterloo has only 10 prefixes, or 100,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Waterloo: the leader, Videotron Ltd., holds only 20.0% of the prefixes against 8 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: 44.4% 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 Waterloo number

Waterloo 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

Waterloo 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 Waterloo number tells you

A number attached to Waterloo 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 9 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 Waterloo: code 450-734 is recorded for Videotron Ltd., so every 450-734-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Waterloo, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Waterloo prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 10 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec