Are you attempting to find a service provider using a phone number? There are lots of websites that will allow you to look up service providers by entering phone numbers, and although some of them do charge for this, there are free options too.
In general, all you need to do is enter the phone number into the appropriate box online, and you can figure out which carrier supports that number, whether it’s a cellphone number, a landline number, or even a VoIP number. This information can be useful if you want to understand what rates you’ll pay to call the number.
There are other important uses too, so with that in mind, let’s start understanding how to look up a service provider using an individual’s phone number!
What Is A Service Provider?
A service provider is a company that supports telephone numbers, including cellphone numbers and landlines. Service providers are paid an amount (usually each month) by their customers, and in exchange, they offer a number, and often a data plan, minutes, texts, etc.
There are a lot of service providers in the United States, including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Cox, and more. Some only provide service for cellphones or landlines, while some provide both, and may also offer additional packages (like TV packages and internet packages).
It might surprise you to discover that you can find out a person’s service provider simply by looking up their number online, but it’s perfectly possible. So, let’s look at a step-by-step guide you can use!
How Do You Find A Service Provider Using A Phone Number?
Fortunately, looking up a service provider can be pretty simple. You just need to follow our simple guide below.
Step 1) Verify The Number
The most important thing to do before you start doing a lookup is to check that the number you have is correct. If you enter a number incorrectly, the lookup service won’t work, or you’ll end up with incorrect information, which can have multiple drawbacks.
You need to run through the number a couple of times, verifying the digits. If you know the number’s owner, get them to verify it for you to minimize the risk of mistakes.
Step 2) Choose A Lookup Service
There are quite a few different lookup services out there, including Number Tracker Pro. Number Tracker Pro provides a particularly straightforward option for finding a phone number’s carrier, and it’s completely free. It gives reliable answers, and there’s no need to pay anything for the service. You don’t even have to make an account if you would prefer not to.
All you need to do is go to https://www.numbertrackerpro.com/free-phone-carrier-lookup.php to get started.
Step 3) Enter The Number
Once you have arrived at the above link, simply enter the number you want to look up into the box that’s displayed, and then verify that you are human using the captcha that you’ll see displayed beneath this box. To get the captcha to activate, tick the “I’m not a robot” box, and then follow the instructions on the screen.
When you’re done, click the large button marked “Check the carrier” and Number Tracker Pro will scan its large databases for information about who owns that number.
Step 4) Wait For The Results
Although it’s usually very quick, you need to wait a few moments for the results to be displayed. Once they are, you will be able to see which carrier supports the number. You may also get information about the kind of number it is, and possibly other details too, depending on the situation and how much information is available in the database.
You might see things like a “spam score,” which tells you how many times that number has been flagged as a source of spam. This can help if you’re trying to figure out whether you’re being called by scammers.
You might also see information like the state that the number is located in, or possibly the country, along with the local time zone. This can help you to figure out who might be calling you.
Step 5) Get More Information If Necessary
Once you’ve completed your search for the carrier, you can get further information if you want it by performing a reverse phone number lookup. This is another service provided by Number Tracker Pro.
It will give you additional details about who is calling you, and may help you to more accurately pinpoint a location, giving you a better sense of who is on the other end of the line. This service can be accessed quickly and easily from the same site, and is a great follow-up to looking up the carrier.
Why Might You Research A Service Provider?
There are several reasons you might research a service provider. One of the major ones is to determine how much it is likely to cost you to call somebody whose cellphone or landline is provided by that company.
Many service providers offer their customers deals like cheap calls or even free calls (and texts where applicable) if they call somebody who uses the same provider. For example, if your phone service is provided by Verizon, it might not cost you anything to call another Verizon user under certain circumstances.
Checking who provides a phone number and whether it’s a cellphone or a landline can help you determine what rates you are likely to pay to communicate with that individual. This can be very helpful if you need to make calls without racking up big bills.
Furthermore, looking up the carrier can help you pinpoint a caller’s approximate location, even if this information isn’t readily available online. Carriers usually work within relatively small geographical areas (e.g. across the US or parts of the US), and only a few work internationally. Even those that do will often provide service in only a limited number of countries.
By looking up the carrier, you can therefore determine whether somebody is likely to be in the US, the UK, somewhere in Europe, or another part of the world. This can be useful information for a number of reasons.
Another possible reason for looking up a number’s service provider is wanting to determine whether it’s a landline or a cellphone, and wanting to determine how likely it is to be spam. A lot of people are looking for ways to protect themselves from scammers on the phone, and looking up a carrier to get more details about a phone number can help.
Remember that you can supplement what you find by doing a reverse phone lookup, and checking whether the number has ever been connected with spam before. This may give you enough information to confidently ignore the caller or might encourage you to pick up because you have determined that they are legitimate.
How Reliable Is Looking Up A Service Provider?
The companies that provide service provider lookup services tend to use large databases in order to provide results when you search for a number. If these databases are up to date, the answer you get is likely to be pretty accurate.
However, you should bear in mind that databases often aren’t updated in real-time, and if somebody has recently changed their carrier, there’s no guarantee that the information will be accurate. Services like Number Tracker Pro do their best to provide good information, but it isn’t a guaranteed way of tracking down a service provider.
To increase the likelihood of getting accurate results, you may want to try the same search across various providers. If they all display the same information, it’s more likely to be accurate (although this is still not guaranteed, especially if changes have only been made recently).
There’s no absolutely foolproof way to look up a service provider, but carrier lookup services are a great place to start and often do provide accurate information about this.
Do You Have To Pay To Look Up A Service Provider?
No, you don’t have to pay to look up a service provider. Number Tracker Pro provides this service for free, as do a few other options. You don’t even have to make an account to use Number Tracker Pro’s service, so you can be sure that there are no strings attached and no particular drawbacks to performing the lookup.
You can look up a whole range of numbers and find out who the carrier is for each one if you like. You can also cross-reference this information with the other providers. Although some services may try to charge you for the lookup, there are plenty of free options out there.
Is A Service Provider The Same As A Carrier?
Yes, these two terms are generally used interchangeably. Your phone carrier is the same as your phone service provider. You can therefore perform either a carrier lookup or a service provider lookup, and you’ll get great results either way.
Can You Track A Phone Once You Know The Service Provider?
You might be wondering if you can use information about the service provider to track down a phone number. You may be able to narrow this down to a region or country, but just knowing the carrier won’t give you much more information than that.
The carrier will have more information about the number’s location and who it belongs to, but they will not give this information to someone who calls and asks for it in most cases. However, there are exceptions.
If you can prove that the phone number belongs to you, but that the phone has been lost or stolen, the carrier might assist you in tracking the phone down. Be aware that this will depend on their internal policies, the circumstances, and your ability to prove that the number belongs to you. What will constitute proof depends heavily on the carrier, and the tracking will be done at their discretion if they agree to do it at all.
In some cases, if you are a law enforcement officer, you might be able to get a service provider to track a phone for you and give you a location for the number. This will usually only be done in the case of a criminal investigation or an emergency where the person’s life may be at stake. Bear in mind that the policies may differ between companies, and the laws may differ between states.
In most cases, knowing the service provider isn’t enough to get tracking services. Data protection laws prohibit these companies from giving out private information to those who don’t have a right to it, and you won’t be able to track a phone number by asking the carrier for more information.
Some of the tracking services like Number Tracker Pro may be able to give you more information about where a phone number is located but bear in mind that real-time tracking is not generally something that’s offered for safety and privacy reasons.
It’s important to make sure that any research you do on a number online is done with respect to the privacy rights of the number’s owner. You should only look up phone numbers if you have a legitimate need to know who the carrier is, and you should not make use of the information in ways that would compromise the number’s owner.
Conclusion
Looking up a service provider using a phone number can be a surprisingly easy process, and it’s not one that you need to pay for. Number Tracker Pro and similar tools will allow you to determine the carrier of any phone number, whether it’s a cellphone, a landline, or a VoIP. This can be very useful for a whole range of reasons.
You can supplement that by doing a reverse phone number lookup to get more information, and you may be able to determine exactly who has been calling you (or verify whether you are attempting to call the right person). This can reduce the stress of phone calls, and may protect you from scammers!