Service Objects' DOTS GeoPhone is a hosted, programmable XML Web Service that allows you to lookup name and address information for virtually every U.S. and Canadian telephone number. It is designed for real-time contact verification. The underlying data is derived from national white pages listing, wireless carrier information, and North American Phone Number Assignment data. The database contains more than 170 million residential telephone numbers and 30 million business telephone numbers, linked with names and postal addresses.
Our clients use DOTS GeoPhone service to verify, correct and enhance customer data in real-time. The DOTS GeoPhone service can append carrier, line type, exchange information, and (most importantly) specific customer information for a given phone number. By comparing the DOTS GeoPhone data and customer provided data web-site operators can identify their best leads, weed-out the fraudulent leads, and improve conversion.
DOTS GeoPhone gives you the tools to capture and verify name, address and phone numbers the instant you are contacted. And by verifying consumer information — not just validating for 10 digits of a phone number — you confirm the name and address are correct and belong to that consumer.
The input to DOTS GeoPhone is a customer phone number. The service converts the phone number into: carrier name, exchange region, line type (landline, voip or wireless), contact name, contact address, contact city, contact state, contact zip, and contact type (residential or business). This service can provide up to 20 additional unique contact records per phone number request.
Additional DOTS services can be used to further enhance the contact information including: street address geocoding (lat/lon, DMA), CASS and DPV certified address correction, ZIP-code level demographics, and name parsing. These add-on services can be purchased individually from Service Objects.
Users of DOTS GeoPhone can derive lucidity from their customers by comparing customer provided information with the DOTS GeoPhone results. As a general rule of thumb, the more comparisons done between the customer data and the GeoPhone result, the more insight about the customer that can be obtained.
For proper customer verification we recommend passing each customer's information through a 12-step process. The objective is to identify which customers are most-likely the most-accurate. And, correspondingly, which customers have provided inaccurate information.
By using DOTS GeoPhone and customer provided contact
information you can cross-reference individual elements to validate and enhance
partial contact information. Additional test that you can perform include:
- GeoPhone Street Match and GeoPhone Name Match
This test is our most stringent test. It compares the customer information with directory assistance listing to ensure the highest level of data quality. Customers that pass this test have the highest likelihood of accuracy.
- GeoPhone Name Match and GeoPhone Zip Code Match
This test compares elements of the name, and the zip code to ensure compliance. Customers that pass this test have a very good likelihood of accuracy.
- GeoPhone Name Match and GeoPhone City/State Match
This check will compare the name and the city/state values. A match here is a good likelihood of accuracy and therefore is statistically likely to be easily contacted.
- GeoPhone Name Only Match
This test will ensure the name provided by the customer is contained within the phone record. Customer may have inaccurate address information. A match here means the customer is 'listed' as a contact to this phone number. This customer is considered a fairly good lead and can be easily contacted for follow-up.
- GeoPhone Street Only Match
A 'GeoPhone Street Only Match' is known as the 'roommate' situation. The address is successfully matched against GeoPhone records, but the name does not. This situation may occur when an alternate individual resides at this residence but is not listed on the phone record. A match here indicates a fair quality lead, and may be contactable.
- GeoPhone ZIP Code Only Match
This check may provide verification when a customer is partially unlisted. Many individuals choose not to have their street address published in the directory listings, but the do have their city/street/zip published. A match here means the names did not match, but the ZIP code provided and the GP Zip code did match. This customer may not be contactable. There is a small chance that the customer does not exist. Additional tests such as DOTS Address Validation, DOTS Email Validation, and DOTS IP Address Validation will provide more insight to the quality of this customer.
- GeoPhone City/State Code Only Match
A match here means the names did not match, but the city/state provided and the GeoPhone city/state code did match. This customer may not be contactable. There is a small chance that this customer does not exist. Additional tests such as DOTS Address Validation, DOTS Email Validation, and DOTS IP Address Validation will provide more insight to the quality of this customer.
- GeoPhone Exchange City/State Match
This test will compare the published exchange region with the customer provided city/state matched. A GeoPhone Exchange City/State Match means that the customer may be unlisted, but the phone number does match the carrier's regional area. Nonetheless, the accuracy of this customer is unknown. Additional DOTS tests can provide additional insight to the quality of this customer's contact information.
- GeoPhone Landline Only Match
Phone number is a landline. Customer may be unlisted or not match any element within GeoPhone. Quality of contact information is unknown and may be bogus. Additional tests are required to determine quality of customer contact information.
- GeoPhone Wireless and City/State Match
This check indicates the phone number is a wireless (cell) number and the city/state exchange information matches the customer provided address. Quality of contact information is unknown because wireless directory information is not available. Additional tests are required to determine quality of customer contact information.
- GeoPhone Wireless Match
This test indicates the telephone number provides is a wireless number. Additional tests such as DOTS Address Validation, DOTS Email Validation, and DOTS IP Address Validation will provide more insight to the quality of this customer. The quality of this customer is unknown and the likelihood of contacting this customer through their wireless device is poor.
- NAA/NXX+Y Validity Check
This test indicates that the telephone number does not conform with the North American Numbering Plan, the carrier is unknown, and number is not connectable. This customer can not be contacted via telephone.
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