Lookup TiersNovember 13, 2026 · 8 min read

Standard Phone Lookup: Validity, Line Type, and Carrier at 1 Credit

The standard lookup is the workhorse tier: one credit per number answers the questions every phone workflow starts with — is this number valid, what kind of line is it, who carries it, and where is it. This guide covers exactly what you get, what you don't, and when to step up to a deeper package.

What one credit buys

A single call to GET /v1-get-phone-details (or the phone_validate MCP tool) returns:

{
  "number": "+18013605555",
  "valid": true,
  "country": "US",
  "callingCode": "1",
  "nationalNumber": "8013605555",
  "type": "MOBILE",
  "isDisposable": false,
  "carrier": "verizon",
  "geo": "PROVO, Utah",
  "timezones": ["America/Denver"]
}

Field	What it tells you
valid	Whether the number passes format and range validation.
number / nationalNumber / callingCode	Normalized E.164, national digits, and country code — consistent shapes for storage and routing.
country	ISO country of the number.
type	Resolved line type: MOBILE, VOIP, FIXED_LINE, or PAGER.
carrier	Best-available carrier name for the number.
isDisposable	Whether the number belongs to a known disposable or burner pool.
geo / timezones	Location label and timezone for send-time decisions.

When the standard tier is the right tier

Signup and form screening. Reject invalid, disposable, and VoIP numbers at the door before they hit your CRM or OTP budget.
High-volume list hygiene. Bulk CSV validation applies the same checks to entire files — one credit per record is the economic answer at list scale.
Send-time routing basics. Line type plus timezone is enough to decide SMS vs voice vs suppress, and to land messages in local daylight.
Compliance floors. Line-type gates (block VOIP and landlines for TCPA-sensitive campaigns) are a standard-tier concern.

When to step up

The standard tier answers "is this number usable?". It deliberately stops short of carrier identity depth — no OCN, no corporate family, no wholesale-hosted signal, no exchange view. When your rules need to know who is behind the number, the deeper tiers answer in one call each:

3 credits

Extended Lookup: Carrier Context

OCN and carrier class, holding company, line-type utilization codes, portability, and the wholesale-hosted flag — the per-number answer layer for suppression and routing.

Read the guide

6 credits

Full Data: Exchange Intelligence

Everything in extended, plus the exchange carrier mix and wholesale-share summary — for list-risk analysis and dialer strategy.

Read the guide

Try it and integrate it

Run the standard lookup live on your own numbers — no API key needed — then wire it in with a single GET or the phone_validate MCP tool:

curl "https://api.phone-check.app/v1-get-phone-details?phone=%2B14155552671" \
  -H "accept: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Standard lookup — 1 credit per number

Billed only on successful lookups. Volume plans and pay-as-you-go credits on the pricing page; the live demo runs on the same endpoint the API serves.

Open the live demo View pricing