Lookup by Twilio • Hacker News Board

Re: Lookup by Twilio

#31

Post by 7ewis » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:26 PM UTC

Works really well.

Checked a few numbers, only number it didn't get the network provider for was a UK landline. Wish I had a way to make use of this API!

Re: Lookup by Twilio

#32

Post by robotfelix » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:27 PM UTC

andrewguenther wrote: post #5

I find it interesting that you can get the mobile carrier from this. The first thing I pictured was a voice phishing attack: "Hello, this is T-Mobile, there's a problem with your account..." you get the gist.

It's worth noting that the carrier it returns and the brand of network aren't necessarily the same - at least here in the UK.

For example the Giffgaff network is carried by O2, and a UK landline rented through Twilio appears to be carried by Jersey Telecom.

Re: Lookup by Twilio

#33

Post by RobSpectre » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:30 PM UTC

7ewis wrote: post #31

Works really well. Checked a few numbers, only number it didn't get the network provider for was a UK landline. Wish I had a way to make use of this API!

Awesome - thanks for giving it a swing.

Re: Lookup by Twilio

#34

Post by sketchthat » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:38 PM UTC

I don't understand what is so good about this, I've been working with this technology in Australia for years. I can get the carrier and details of any number in the world with MNP Lookups.

Re: Lookup by Twilio

#35

Post by taf2 » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:55 PM UTC

fasteo wrote: post #30

Am I missing something or this is just a REST front-end for Google´s libphonenumber[1] ? [1] https://github.com/googlei18n/libphonenumber

The free part of the api is but the carrier information is more involved

Re: Lookup by Twilio

#36

Post by threedaymonk » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 10:56 PM UTC

fasteo wrote: post #30

Am I missing something or this is just a REST front-end for Google´s libphonenumber[1] ? [1] https://github.com/googlei18n/libphonenumber

It seems to be more than that. For example, I typed in my mobile phone number, and it correctly identified the operator as "Hutchison 3G UK" (i.e. 3), which it now is - but it's a number that was originally Virgin and which has been ported a couple of times since then.

Re: Lookup by Twilio

#37

Post by chralieboy » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 11:00 PM UTC

RobSpectre wrote: post #10

jonursenbach wrote: post #8

Wish they returned city, state, and ZIP information for domestic numbers like Telesign does. Telesign is outrageously expensive.

Hey Jon - Rob from Twilio here. Good feedback - appreciate you sharing. We do have geographic information with each webhook sharing city, state and zip - agree it would be useful to have this in the Lookup resources as well.

Are you able verify that the user's billing address is within a given area or return information related to that? nextdoor.com uses it to verify that you live where you say you do and I'd definitely pay to validate that information.

Re: Lookup by Twilio

#38

Post by corford » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 11:06 PM UTC

Pretty solid! Only minor issues I could spot were:

1. Wrong carrier for my mobile - number started out life with a UK MVNO (sainsbury's mobile), I have since ported it to Virgin UK (another MVNO) but Twillio lists the carrier as being EE (which is sort of correct in so much as that's who Virgin resell capacity from).

2. No carrier type info for UK voip numbers - tried two numbers, one from Telappliant and one from Andrews & Arnold, got nulls back each time :(

Re: Lookup by Twilio

#39

Post by spdustin » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 11:27 PM UTC

RobSpectre wrote: post #27

theraven wrote: post #24

Someone is going to have bad analytics for this link. utm_medium=email&utm_source=prodlnch&utm_campaign=introducing_lookup_from_twilio_20150331&utm_content=prdlnch

Yes. Yes we will. :'(

A filter to exclude referrers from ycombinator.com would offset some of that.

Re: Lookup by Twilio

#40

Post by prawn » Tue, Mar 31, 2015, 11:33 PM UTC

joshmn wrote: post #21

prawn wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sort of person who registers a domain might be a little more alert than the larger group of people who have a mobile phone?

Have you seen those GoDaddy commercials with Danica Patrick? Those commercials appeal to people who, I'd gander, have a lot more to lose (and aren't as wise to the potential sly tricks... of the internet) than what could be phished over the phone from your telco provider.

Not in the US, so I don't see that ad. Good point about lot more to lose, though I wonder if 2FA through phones makes losing phone access a risk as well.