Mobile, landline and VoIP — why the line type decides the campaign
Every number in a traced file is one of three things, and which one it is decides whether the row is an asset or a line item.
The three types
A mobile can receive a text and is usually carried by the person it belongs to. For outreach that mixes texting and calling, it is the only line type that supports both.
A landline can be called and cannot be texted. It is also increasingly likely to sit in an empty house or ring somewhere nobody stands, which is why the reach on landline-heavy lists is worse than the row count suggests.
VoIP is a number that lives on the internet. It can sometimes receive texts and often does not, deliverability is unpredictable, and carriers apply more scrutiny to traffic aimed at it.
Why it matters more than it looks
If you are billed per number returned, a file heavy with landlines is one you paid more for and will reach fewer people through. The row count went up and the campaign did not.
There is a second, slower cost. Sending volume to numbers that do not accept it degrades the reputation of the number you are sending from, and that reputation follows you into your next campaign. A list that quietly burns a sending number has cost more than the file.
This is why our files are mobile only. Landlines and VoIP are dropped before you are billed, so the count you pay for is the count you can work.
When you do want the others
Locate work on a long-abandoned property, where the landline at a last known address may be the only remaining thread.
Probate and inherited property, where the person you need may be a relative at an older number rather than the owner of record.
Manual calling on a short, high-value list, where the extra numbers cost you nothing but time. For that job, an investigative product will serve you better than a marketing file.
Questions people ask
Can I text a landline?
No. The message either fails or is silently dropped, and either way it counts as a send against the number you sent it from.
How do you know which is which?
Line type is carried in the contact data itself. The decision that matters is not detecting it, it is what the provider does with it — deliver it and bill for it, or drop it.
Does dropping landlines make my file smaller?
Yes, and that is the point. The smaller number is the one that was always true; the larger one included rows you could not have used.
Related
Pick a county and a list type, or send your own addresses. Mobile numbers only, litigator and DNC scrubbed, and anything the county does not hold is credited back.