Mobile, landline or VoIP? How to tell business phone numbers apart
A phone number on a Google Maps listing can be three very different things. Knowing which one it is saves you time before you send a single message.
The three types
- Mobile: a number on a wireless carrier. It can receive text messages and often reaches a person.
- Landline: a traditional line, often the front desk. It can't receive text messages.
- VoIP: a phone over the internet, like many business phone systems and apps. Texting to it often fails or goes nowhere.
How the type can be found for free
In the US and Canada, phone numbers are handed out in blocks of 1,000 to carriers. The numbering administrators, NANPA in the US and CNAC in Canada, publish who owns each block. If the block belongs to a wireless carrier, the number is most likely mobile. If it belongs to a landline company, it is most likely a landline. A list of carrier-name rules catches companies that sell something different, such as VoIP apps and pager services.
Where it can be wrong
People can move a number to another carrier and keep it. This is called porting. A landline number moved to a mobile carrier still sits in a landline block, so the free method calls it a landline. Only paid live lookups can see that. So treat the result as a very good filter, not as a promise.
How well does the free method match paid ones?
On 30 October 2026 we checked 1,000 real US business numbers with EverScrape and with three phone-lookup services (Veriphone, Leadity and Numverify). EverScrape's line type matched in 95 % of cases on average across the three. This test was run by us, not by an independent party, and agreement with other services is not proof of what a live network lookup would say. Details: how accurate is the phone check.
One rule to remember
The line type tells you what kind of line it is, not who answers it and not whether you are allowed to contact it. Rules for cold texts and calls differ by country and state. Check them first.
EverScrape adds this check to every lead automatically. See how it works.