Introducing Phone Validation API to Identify Real and In-Service Numbers

Our customers frequently come to us looking for insight to know if a phone number is active and assigned to a subscriber or disconnected, and as a growing company, we always want to expand the value our products are providing. Therefore, we have expanded the functionality of our Phone Validation API to include Phone Activity Score. This new feature simply identifies whether a phone is disconnected or connected. We believe this will positively impact our customers and benefit their sales and marketing teams who are struggling now more than ever to contact their customers. 

So, what exactly is considered a disconnected phone and why is it important to know?

A disconnected phone number refers to a telephone number that is no longer in service. This can occur for a variety of reasons, such as the account holder canceling their phone service, the service provider disconnecting the number due to a non-payment, or a technical issue with the phone line. If you try to call a disconnected number, you will typically hear a recording or message stating that the number is no longer in service or has been disconnected. 

This is important because there is a huge problem with disconnected phones as they create a variety of operational challenges for our customers. One of those reasons being that there were approximately 56 million disconnected phone numbers in the United States in 2020 according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). 

Customers generally struggle with the following problems: 

• Fake numbers used on sign-up forms, which can frustrate sales teams and affect the accuracy of the customer database.
• Disruption in lead generation, which can result in inconsistent revenue and difficulty in meeting business goals.
• Low answer rates and ASR, which can impact customer satisfaction, increase operational costs, and reduce revenue.

Through our beta testing, we have been able to predict disconnected phone numbers with 63% recall at 100% precision. In other words, we can detect roughly two-thirds of disconnected phone numbers without falsely calling a good number disconnected. 

With phone numbers being a primary way for businesses to connect with customers, our Phone Activity Score via Phone Validation API is great news for businesses and can help greatly. It saves businesses time and money to know their dollars and energy are not being wasted on numbers that are no longer in service or connected.