# Site listing which cell phone Co. owns which #? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/site-listing-which-cell-phone-co-owns-which/502205 "2009-07-07T15:56:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/site-listing-which-cell-phone-co-owns-which/502205/21 "2009-07-07T21:31:20Z")
It has to be the same geograhic area and there are numerous exceptions if you are served by a small local telephone area. You can also incur fees and cost of change over, though not all carriers do this ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/site-listing-which-cell-phone-co-owns-which/502205/22 "2009-07-07T23:37:54Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > My sister and her husband moved from San Diego to Boston a couple of years ago. They chose to keep their phone numbers the same and just have the company send the bill to their new address in Boston. I assume these are mobile phone numbers, not landlines. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/site-listing-which-cell-phone-co-owns-which/502205/23 "2009-07-07T23:48:09Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > I assume these are mobile phone numbers, not landlines. Yes they were mobile phones. They also did not switch phone companies just addresses. I wonder if they chose to switch companies and stay in Boston if they would have issues. ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/site-listing-which-cell-phone-co-owns-which/502205/24 "2009-07-08T05:45:58Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > \*\* IAmNotSpartacus \*\* said something similar. > > Perhaps you didn’t notice that they have a FAQ page, which says: Great. We have corroboration from the site that the observations **pulykamell** and I had are accurate. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/site-listing-which-cell-phone-co-owns-which/502205/25 "2009-07-09T03:37:59Z")
> [@IAmNotSpartacus](#): > > It’s not accurate. It thinks my number is still with T-Mobile. I’ve been with AT&T for over 2 years. It still thinks my dad’s is a landline, when he ported it to his cell over 4 years ago. I think it’s referencing who originally had the number in their pool. It certainly doesn’t have much bearing on reality today. I’ve had the same cell number for five years. It thinks I’m with Cingular but I never have been. Is this site just making random guesses? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/site-listing-which-cell-phone-co-owns-which/502205/26 "2009-07-09T09:34:37Z")
It thinks my number belongs to Sprint. 😛 Uh, no. I used to have a Sprint wireless phone, but with a different number. I received my current number from Qwest, which no longer has its own cellular service, now contracting with Verizon. I kept the number when I moved over to AT&T in 2004, and it has stayed with me through the name change to Cingular and back to AT&T. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/site-listing-which-cell-phone-co-owns-which/502205/27 "2009-07-09T13:26:21Z")
Here is another NPA-NXX search tool I’ve used before. [DETAILED Telephone Number / Prefix Locations in any Area Code (with maps)](http://www.thedirectory.org/pref/) I can’t vouch for their up-to-the-minute accuracy, but I’ve never hit a counterexample there either. As noted above, that identifies the telco which owns an NPA-NXX block, not the actual telco servicing a specific (and possibly ported) phone number. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/site-listing-which-cell-phone-co-owns-which/502205/28 "2009-07-09T15:45:38Z")
> [@JozefKafka](#): > > I just found out what I wanted to know using this site: > > [http://fonefinder.net/](http://fonefinder.net/) This site does not report my land line number (which I’ve had with my current provider for over 9 years) correctly. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/site-listing-which-cell-phone-co-owns-which/502205/29 "2009-07-09T16:50:03Z")
_nm_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/site-listing-which-cell-phone-co-owns-which/502205.md?page=1)