Free carrier lookup
Enter a US or Canadian phone number to find its carrier and whether it's a mobile, landline, or VoIP line. Free, with no sign-up.
Published Updated
US and Canadian numbers. Include +1 and the area code. Free lookups have a daily limit.
Check the phone number on every lead, not one at a time.
GoodInbound is a form backend and lead screen for any form. It:
- Screens every submission for bots, fake sign-ups, and unsolicited sales pitches, whether a person or an AI wrote them.
- Labels each one lead, review, spam, junk, or bot, with a one-line reason.
- Enriches real leads and notifies you by email, Slack, or Telegram.
- Sends only real leads on to your CRM, workflows, and ad platforms.
How to use the carrier lookup tool
- Enter the phone number you want to check, with +1 and the area code.
- Select Look up carrier.
- Read the carrier, line type, and country that come back.
The lookup is free and needs no account. It checks one US or Canadian number at a time, with a daily limit on free lookups. The number is checked first: an invalid number or a known fake pattern gets a message, and the tool never shows a guessed carrier.
How a carrier lookup works
A carrier lookup checks a phone number against carrier records and returns two things: the carrier the number is on, and the type of line it is. You can't read either from the digits. In the US and Canada, blocks of numbers are assigned to carriers, but a number can later move to another carrier and keep its area code and prefix.
So the lookup first tests the number against its country's numbering plan, then reads the carrier record for the carrier serving it today. It reads records only. It doesn't call or text the number.
When to run a carrier lookup
- Before a text campaign. Landlines in a list don't receive texts, and those messages fail without telling you. A lookup shows how many there are before you spend anything.
- After a text didn't go through. A landline is the most common reason.
- While cleaning up a contact list. Numbers get ported, and businesses switch providers, so a number collected years ago may not be what it was.
- When a lead looks off. A VoIP number on a demo request is a flag worth a second look, alongside the email address and the message.
- Before SMS verification. Line type and carrier help decide whether a number is reliable enough to send a code to.
Mobile, landline, or VoIP: what the line type means
- Mobile: a number on a wireless carrier's network. It sends and receives texts by default.
- Landline: a fixed line. It can't receive texts unless the owner has text-enabled it, which adds messaging to the number without changing it.
- VoIP: a number from an internet-based provider. Most can receive texts. Business phone systems use VoIP numbers, and so do free apps that fake sign-ups rely on, so treat VoIP as a flag and not as proof.
Original carrier vs current carrier
Number portability lets people keep their number when they switch providers. The first digits of a number only tell you which carrier that block was originally assigned to, not where the number is today.
This lookup returns the current carrier, from records that account for porting. If the carrier it shows differs from the one the number's block was first assigned to, the number has been ported. Successful lookups are cached for 30 days, so checking the same number again is instant.
Why the carrier name might not match the provider you expect
A carrier lookup returns the carrier whose network the number runs on. That isn't always the company that sold the service. A business that bought its number through a reseller or a cloud phone platform shows the underlying carrier.
The same goes for mobile brands. Most US cell phone numbers sit on Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile, and prepaid and discount brands run on those networks, so a lookup usually shows the network behind the brand, not the name on the bill.
Bulk carrier lookup and API
This page checks one number at a time. To check numbers from your own application, or the phone number on every form submission, use the GoodInbound phone validation API. It returns validity, fake-pattern flags, country, and line type for numbers worldwide, plus the carrier for US and Canadian numbers.
Questions
A carrier lookup checks a phone number against carrier records and returns which carrier the number is on and what type of line it is: mobile, landline, or VoIP.
Enter the number in the lookup above with +1 and the area code. It checks the number and shows the carrier and line type on record. It's free.
Yes. No account, no email, and no card. There is a daily limit on free lookups.
Line type is reliable, because it comes from carrier records. The carrier name can differ from the brand you expect: a number bought through a reseller shows the underlying network. When no carrier record comes back, the tool says so and doesn't guess.
Run it through a carrier lookup and read the line type. You can't tell from the number: area codes and prefixes stopped being reliable once people could keep a number when they switched providers.
Yes. The line type comes back as VoIP when the number is from an internet-based provider. VoIP numbers use the same formats and area codes as mobile numbers, so you can't tell by looking.
Indirectly, through the line type. Mobile numbers receive texts. Landlines don't unless the owner has text-enabled the line, and most VoIP numbers do.
No. It returns the carrier and line type on record. Whether a phone is switched on and reachable takes a live network check, often called an HLR lookup, which this tool doesn't run.
Only the original carrier. Number portability lets a number move between providers and keep its digits, so the prefix can point to the wrong carrier.
No. A carrier lookup reads carrier records. It doesn't place a call or send a text, and nothing shows on their phone.
This tool returns carriers for US and Canadian numbers. For other countries, the phone number validator checks the number against its country's numbering plan and shows the line type where the plan says.
Not on this page, which checks one number at a time. Use the GoodInbound phone validation API to check numbers from your application.
No. It returns the carrier and the line type. The carrier holds the subscriber record and doesn't publish it.
No. A carrier lookup returns the carrier and line type only. Do Not Call status is a separate registry and needs its own check.