Phone prefixes in Wickham, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

7

Telephone numbers covered

70,000

Carriers

7

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

February 28, 2008

Most recent assignment

November 11, 2020

Wickham’s share of its area codes

Within area code 873, Wickham 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, Wickham 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

Bell Canada holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 14.3% of the total, ahead of 6 other carriers. Code by code: in 873, Cooptel leads with 1 of 4 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 819, Bell Canada leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Wickham’s 2 area codes, while 7 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

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

How the allocation was built up

Wickham’s dated assignments run from 2008 to 2020. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 2 prefixes went to 2 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 2 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Wickham’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 TELUS Quebec in 2008. The most recent arrivals are Fibernetics Corporation (2020), ISP Telecom Inc. (2020) and Cooptel (2019), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Wickham.

Wickham 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 Wickham: the leader, Bell Canada, holds only 14.3% 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: 33.3% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2005–2009. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Wickham number

Wickham 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

Wickham 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 Wickham number tells you

A number attached to Wickham tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, most often Bell Canada. 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 Wickham: code 819-398 is recorded for Bell Canada, so every 819-398-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Wickham, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Wickham prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Quebec