Wireless Exchanges In An Area Code
How do I know if a number is a cellular phone or home phone number? This question is often asked of us. Assuming the phone number was not ported from another type of service (ie switching a landline phone number to a mobile phone number), you should be able to determine the type of service using what is called the exchange code. This is the second set of three digits in a ten digit US phone number (ie. (xxx) xxx-xxxx). The first set of three digits represents the area code, and the last four digits distinguish the user.
An entire phone number can be thought of as such:
(XXX) XXX-XXXX
Wherein:
(XXX) = Area code identifies the location.
XXX = Exchange code identifies the service provider and type of phone.
XXXX = User identifies who owns the phone number.
This categorization system is also known as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) and if you visit the NANP administrations website you can find out more. Now, it is important to point out that with wireless number portability, these identifiers may not always be 100% accurate. In fact, it is likely that in the future these phone codes may not help much at all. For now, this will help identify many numbers as either landline or cell phone.
Now, since all of this can sometimes be a bit daunting we thought we would also try to provide a tool (or tools) that may also help. Below you will find an area code search box which you can use to find the wireless exchanges which exist in that particular area code. Depending upon the size of the area code this list can be pretty long, so if you would rather search using the area code and exchange we suggest using our other new tool, here.
Enter the area code and hit search to see a list exchanges in that area.
** Note we will display just the exchange code (this is the middle three numbers ie. xxx-xxx-xxxx). Also, this information does occasionally change and can become out of date due to number portability and other factors.
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