About phone number lookups


All phone carriers participate in an international database that contains every phone number currently in use. The phone carriers will report each number type: mobile, landline, or VOIP (VOIP = Voice over Internet Protocol or when you use your internet connection for phone calls). When you upload your CSV, GetThru will compare every number in that CSV and report on what type of number each phone number uploaded is. If it is textable, we will mark it as valid, and if it isn't, we will mark it as invalid. Invalid numbers are callable in ThruTalk.


In ThruText, you can only text mobile numbers. If a phone number is a landline or VOIP, it will be marked invalid. This might cause confusion because some VOIP numbers offer the ability to send and receive texts (such as Google Voice). While those carriers exist, most VOIP numbers are in use to replace landline numbers and do not accept SMS. We don't allow texting of VOIP numbers to keep deliverability high and save you costs for undelivered messages.


In ThruTalk, landline and VOIP numbers are callable and will be included in the valid count in the group's ThruTalk totals. 


Occasionally, mobile numbers will be listed as "invalid". This is due to a report from the carriers that these numbers have been disconnected from text messaging services.


The Group Details has a breakdown of the contact information for ThruText and ThruTalk:

In the GetThru admin UI, a blue navigation bar with white text is displayed on the left side. The Groups drop-down menu is open, indicated by a pink dot, showing the admin is on the Active Groups page. In the center of the page, black text on a light grey background displays information for the active group of US contacts named 'Test Group'. Two tables are visible: the top table shows ThruTalk group totals, and the bottom table shows ThruText group totals.

How to verify your phone Numbers

To verify your group data, export your group as a CSV. Group exports provides detailed information about the data shown on the Group Details page.


NOTE - Data in group exports are based on textable phone numbers. This means VOIP and landline numbers will be listed as invalid; however, as previously mentioned, those numbers are still callable in ThruTalk.