If your business sends bulk text messages, it’s crucial to use the right system. Understanding the three main methods providers use to send texts and knowing the importance of a phone carrier lookup will help. Ensure the service you hire follows best practices.  Check about carrier lookup by phone number

Typically, a phone carrier lookup is needed once per phone number. However, since around 30% of numbers change carriers monthly, performing additional lookups a few times a year can enhance delivery, save time, and reduce costs. Here’s how it works.

What is a Wireless Carrier Lookup?

A wireless carrier lookup identifies which carrier owns a phone number. Each phone number is linked to a wireless carrier and an end user. The airline owns the number, while the user essentially rents it. A lookup reveals the carrier by identifying a carrier ID number. Lookup services usually handle this process for you, as it’s difficult to do manually.

Why Do You Need to Do a Carrier Lookup?

For personal texts, the carrier doesn’t matter; your phone sends the message directly. However, businesses often send large volumes of texts from special numbers like shortcodes or toll-free numbers. These systems need the current carrier information to route messages correctly.

Using incorrect carrier information can result in undelivered messages. Most messaging software doesn’t include carrier lookup features, so you must perform a carrier lookup and update your phone lists. This ensures your messages are delivered properly.

How to Do a Phone Carrier Lookup

Searchbug offers a phone validator tool for carrier lookups. This is ideal for verifying a small number of phone numbers since you enter each number manually. It costs a few cents per lookup and provides reliable data, saving you time and money compared to free tools. The Searchbug validator also provides the name associated with the number, the line type (landline or cell), and the zip code and time zone.

How to Do a Bulk Carrier Lookup

For businesses with many phone numbers, individual lookups are impractical. You can use a batch phone verifier service or a carrier lookup API.

Batch Phone Verifier Service:

This service is perfect for businesses with extensive phone lists stored in databases. It’s accessible through your browser. To use it, export your phone list to an Excel, .csv, or .txt file, upload it to the online validator, and retrieve the carrier information. This service also provides location, time zone, and SMS email addresses, which is useful for in-house SMS campaigns.

Carrier Lookup API:

For real-time lookups, such as new leads, an API is more efficient. It automates the process and integrates with your lead generation system, streamlining your SMS marketing. The Searchbug API has no monthly fees; you only pay per lookup, with costs decreasing as you perform more lookups.

Both methods help you manage SMS messaging efficiently, whether you use third-party software or handle it in-house. This approach saves time, and money, and reduces business overhead costs.