Phone validator: is this number a mobile or a landline?
- Country
- Type of number
- Basic rate
- A 10 minute call
Type or paste a number, with or without its country code.
Paste a number. We tell you the country, landline or mobile, and the price per minute. 221 countries, no account needed.
Why does the country not tell you the price?
Because a country is not one price. A Portugal landline is $0.05 a minute. A Portugal mobile is $1.69. Same country code, 34 times the price.
- 200
- countries where we publish both prices
- 44
- where one costs at least twice the other
- 29
- where the landline is the dearer one
So “mobile or landline?” is a question you cannot answer about someone else’s number, and in Colombia, Angola and South Africa among others you would guess it backwards. We read it off the digits instead of asking.
| Country | Landline | Mobile | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | $0.05 | $1.69 | 34x |
| Germany | $0.07 | $1.15 | 16x |
| Algeria | $0.35 | $4.49 | 13x |
| Martinique | $0.09 | $0.89 | 10x |
| Spain | $0.07 | $0.69 | 10x |
| Argentina | $0.12 | $1.15 | 10x |
| France | $0.09 | $0.59 | 7x |
| Panama | $0.19 | $1.15 | 6x |
Per minute in USD, read from the same rate table as the checker above and the keypad, so it cannot disagree with what you are charged.
The four line types, and where each one is published
“Cell or landline” is two of them. The other two are where an unexpected bill comes from, and no validator built for US numbers alone will tell you which one you are holding.
- Landline
- A fixed line at an address. Usually the cheapest band in a country and the one an institution publishes.
- Mobile
- A handset. Frequently the dearest band, and in a number of countries it is not, which is the trap the table above measures.
- Freephone
- Free to a caller inside that country because the owner bought domestic coverage. From outside it, somebody still pays to carry the call.
- Service number
- Non-geographic ranges that bill the caller: booking lines, support lines, premium rate. The band where guessing costs the most.
Counted from the published card at build time, so these figures move when the card does.
What this does not tell you
- Who owns the number
- This is not a reverse directory. It cannot name a person, and it cannot tell you whether a missed call was spam.
- Which carrier the number is on
- The line type comes from the numbering plan, not from a carrier database. It cannot name the network, and it cannot tell a ported number from one that never moved.
- Whether it is VoIP
- An internet number and an ordinary one can sit in the same range, so there is no honest way to flag it from the digits alone. If that distinction is what you need, this is the wrong tool.
- Whether anyone picks up
- A price means we can route the call, not that the line is live or that the number was ever issued to anyone. A call that never connects costs nothing.
- A list, or an API
- One number at a time, by hand. There is no bulk upload, no file, no credits and no endpoint to call from your own code.
- What your own carrier charges
- This price is ours. Roaming and direct dialling on your normal plan are billed by your carrier at their rates.
Questions
How do I check if a phone number is a mobile or a landline?
Paste it into the checker on this page. The band is decided by the digits themselves, not by the country, so a number resolves to a landline, a mobile, a toll-free number or a service line without you being asked to pick. Portugal is the clearest case: a landline costs $0.05 a minute and a mobile $1.69, so the same country code covers two very different calls.
Does this phone validator work for international numbers?
Yes, and that is the main difference from most of them. Validators are usually built around one country's numbering plan, almost always the United States. This one resolves the line type across 221 countries from the same table the dialer prices calls with, so a German, Nigerian or Filipino number gets the same answer as an American one. Type it with the country code and a plus, or pick the country from the list.
Can you tell me which carrier a number is on?
No. The line type is read from the numbering plan, which says what kind of number it is, not from a carrier database, which would say whose network it currently sits on. Numbers are also ported between networks constantly, so a carrier answer is only ever as fresh as the database behind it. If the carrier is what you need, this is the wrong tool and a lookup service is the right one.
Is this phone number validator free?
Yes, with no account, no sign-up and no credit. Check as many numbers as you like. You only create an account if you want to place the call, and the number you checked carries through to the keypad when you do.
Can you tell me who owns a phone number?
No. This checks what a number is and what reaching it costs, not who it belongs to. It is not a reverse directory and it does not identify callers or flag spam, so if you are trying to find out who rang you, this is the wrong tool and we would rather say so than waste your time.
Does calling a mobile always cost more than a landline?
No, and that is the trap. We publish both prices in 200 countries. In 44 of them one band costs at least twice the other, but the mobile is not reliably the dearer one: in 29 countries the landline costs more. So guessing is not just risky, the intuition most people would guess with is wrong in 29 places, which is why we read the band off the digits instead of asking.
Is the price the same no matter where I am calling from?
Not always. Calls into Europe in particular are priced by the caller ID being presented as well as by the number being dialled, and the difference can be large. The figure the checker shows is the price from the caller ID we would actually present on your call, so it is the price you would be charged rather than a headline rate.
Do I have to sign up to check a number?
No. The checker is open to anyone and needs no account. You only sign in when you want to place the call, and the number you checked carries through to the keypad.
Check the number you are actually holding
Paste it with the country code. You get the line type, the country and the price for a minute, with no account and nothing to install.