US Phone Number Data Report

What 79,973 real phone number lookups reveal about US carrier concentration, line types, and how the phone network actually routes calls and messages. All figures below are computed from VeriRoute Intel's lookup dataset — not estimates.

1. Three carriers, 94.1% of the numbers

Across every number analyzed, carrier concentration is extreme: the top three brands account for 94.1% — the remaining 127 carriers in the dataset share what's left.

2. It's a wireless world — and that has legal teeth

97.6% of analyzed numbers are wireless (mobile/PCS). For anyone doing outbound calling or texting, the practical takeaway is blunt: assume every number on your list is a cellphone — which means TCPA autodialer and prior-express-consent rules apply to essentially your entire list, and line-type screening isn't optional.

3. A "carrier" is not one thing: OCN sprawl

Marketing brands and network records are different worlds. In LRN/LERG data, carriers are identified by Operating Company Numbers (OCNs) — and a single brand fragments across dozens of them:

This is why naive carrier matching (string-comparing names) breaks: the same company appears under many records, and names vary between voice and messaging databases. Reliable carrier identification has to happen at the OCN/LRN layer, not the brand-name layer.

4. The hidden OTT messaging layer

1,050 numbers in the dataset route their messaging through an OTT/CPaaS provider (Twilio, Google Voice, Bandwidth, and peers) even though their voice service lives elsewhere. If you only check the voice carrier, you'll misroute or mis-score these numbers for SMS — one reason message-provider lookup exists as a separate discipline from carrier lookup.

Coverage of this dataset

• 79,973 unique phone numbers analyzed
• 130 distinct carriers · 385 OCNs
• 64 states/regions · 3,838 rate centers · 277 area codes

Methodology

Figures are aggregated from 79,973 de-duplicated US/NANP phone numbers submitted to VeriRoute Intel for carrier, LRN, and line-type resolution (provider data retrieved June 2025–July 2025). The sample reflects numbers that businesses actually look up — outreach, validation, and compliance lists — rather than a random sample of all assigned numbers, and carrier share should be read in that context. Line types and carrier identities come from authoritative LRN/OCN routing data, not user-agent or self-reported sources. Percentages are of rows where the relevant field is present.

Cite this report

VeriRoute Intel, US Phone Number Data Report, based on 79,973 phone number lookups — verirouteintel.com/data/report. Free to cite with a link.

Explore the underlying data

• Per-carrier data (OCNs, coverage, line types)
• Per-state data + TCPA/DNC rules
• Per-area-code carrier data