Free carrier lookup
Find out which mobile network a phone number is on right now. We ask the network directly, so ported numbers show their current carrier, not the one they started with.
5 free lookups a day, no account needed. Numbers without a country code are read as US numbers.
On T-Mobile USA
- Valid
- Yes
- Country
- United States (US)
- Line type
- Mobile
- Carrier now
- T-Mobile USA
- Network type
- Mobile
- MCC / MNC
- 310 / 260
- Range first assigned to
- AT&T Mobility
This number moved networks, so the range holder and today’s carrier differ.
What a carrier lookup tells you
Phone numbers keep their digits when people switch networks, so the prefix alone can’t tell you who carries a number today. A carrier lookup asks the live network.
- The carrier now
- The network the number is on today, with its mobile country and network codes (MCC and MNC).
- Line type
- Mobile, landline or VoIP. VoIP numbers are cheap to get in bulk, which is why fraud checks look at them closely.
- Who first held the range
- The operator the number block was assigned to. When it differs from today’s carrier, the number was ported.
Need more than 5 a day?
The same lookup is on the TrustLookup API for 2 credits a number. Starter is $19 a month for 7,500 credits, which is 3,750 carrier lookups. Upload a CSV to check a whole list at once.
Request
curl https://api.trustlookup.io/v1/lookup \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TRUSTLOOKUP_KEY" \
-d q="+14155550132" \
-d checks="phone,carrier"Response (shortened)
{
"type": "phone",
"summary": "Valid mobile number in United States",
"results": {
"carrier": {
"ok": true,
"credits": 2,
"data": {
"name": "T-Mobile USA",
"mcc": "310",
"mnc": "260",
"network_type": "mobile"
}
}
}
}Questions
Is this carrier lookup really free?
Yes. You get 5 lookups a day without an account. Each one is a real query to a carrier database that costs us money, which is why there is a daily limit. Invalid numbers don’t count toward it.
Why is the carrier different from the one I expected?
The number was probably ported. When someone switches networks they keep their number, so the operator the number range was first assigned to is no longer the one carrying it. This tool shows both.
Which countries does it cover?
Any number in the international numbering plan is checked for validity, country and line type. Live carrier answers depend on the operators in each country and are best in North America and Europe. A lookup we can’t answer is never charged on the API.
Can it tell me who owns a number?
No. A carrier lookup tells you about the network, not the person. TrustLookup doesn’t look up names or addresses.
Do you keep the numbers I check?
We reuse a recent answer for the same number for up to 7 days so repeat lookups are fast. It’s stored under a one-way hash and isn’t linked to you. We never sell or share what you check.
How is this different from an HLR lookup?
A carrier lookup tells you which network a number belongs to. An HLR lookup goes further and asks that network whether the phone is switched on and reachable right now. HLR lookups are on the API for 5 credits.
Check numbers from your app
250 free credits every month for phone, email, IP and domain checks. Carrier lookups come with every paid plan.