800 Number Databases
I got a question about the database we use today that I thought was worth sharing here.
“Can you clarify if you pull your #s from the SMS/800 database? And if not, which database. I’ve never ordered a toll free number before and just curious how each toll free company pulls different or separate #s and if it’s from the same database.”
We are a resporg and thus are able to pull numbers directly from the national pool of almost 6 million available 800 numbers. Some other websites search their own databases and some may search the same national SMS 800 number database but you have to be very careful because most of them will automatically reserve anything they find available in order to make you get the toll free number from them. If you’re looking at other websites, use AT&T’s lookup tool. Theirs and ours are the only ones that are really safe.
We also build our own cached version of the national 800 number database which is what allows us to find toll free numbers in the disconnect aging process and to include the resporg information too. Nobody else shows you either of those things. We also go out and try to get some additional numbers that you can’t get in the normal process any more (Random 800 #s and Premium numbers). Some other sites may have some databases of their own but nobody else will have those exact numbers. On top of that we have a few more misc databases that block or highlight a few more things too.
I think we counted all of the databases we look through the last time we added anything and it was 14 databases. We’re working on another big one that will have at least a million more numbers in it, the Local Number database. It’s hard to say how far off that is because of all the projects we’re working on but it’s in the works. It’s also not just the databases, but the advanced programming and intelligence checks hundreds or thousands of related options to give you alternatives, that really sets our lookup rool apart from anything else on the web. And to do this all within a couple seconds and make it look easy has taken years of programming and development.
I think the ultimate answer is that it’s a little more complicated than you were assuming it was. We are constantly working and improving things. We’re in the middle of converting the big databases into a virtual database and virtual server process and we’re also adding a third rack in my basement this month too. (The other two are located at different locations in Minnesota.) Our lookup tool has grown and evolved for several years and we’re way ahead of anyone else and pulling away. Other websites may have lookup tools that claim they do the same things, but I think you can see the difference. Oh and the difference shows up in the 15K to 20k queries we do per day too.
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Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
July 15, 2009 at 4:25 pm
This question was sent in by Reena De Asis this afternoon. Many of my posts come from visitor’s questions, either posted in the comments or emailed directly to billquimby@billquimby.net
Bill