Frequently Asked Questions
We understand you may have questions about our products and services and have compiled a list of common, frequently asked questions and answers that may help. Review the list, perhaps you will find the answer to your question here, if not, contact us and we will try to answer all your questions in a timely manner.
General Questions About Our Products
Q: If I buy one of your scripts or libraries do I get source code?
A: Yes, we deliver full non-encrypted source code with all our C++, PHP, and Perl developer products.
Q: Are your scripts and libraries "Open Source"?
A: No.
Q: Can I include your scripts or libraries in my product?
A: Yes, you can use our scripts and libraries royalty free to build or enhance your own products. You cannot however sell or redistibute them as stand alone products.
Q: Do I need a separate license for each developer in my organization?
A: Yes, however we would consider the purchase of 10 individual developer's licenses
to represent a single unlimited corporate site license.
Q: How are your products licensed?
A: Our script and library type products may be incorporated royalty free in to your product under our developer's source code license agreement.
Our stand-alone application type products carry a single user/workstation type license unless otherwise noted.
See our license overview for more information regarding our data products.
Q: Do you offer any corporate or unlimited use licensing for your products?
A: Yes.
Q: Can I redistribute your data products with my software?
A: A distribution license is required to bundle our data products with your software.
Q: What format do you use for your download files?
A: All our products are compressed using industry standard ZIP format.
Q: Are your ZIP files self extracting?
A: No, you will need a decompression program or utility such as PKZip, WinZip, StuffIt Expander
etc. to decompress them.
Q: Can I get the downloads in Unix tar format instead of ZIP format?
A: No, we currently offer ZIP format only though we may add tar format support in the future.
Q: Can I receive my purchase on a CD-ROM instead of downloading it from your site?
A: No, we currently offer electronic downloads of our products only.
General Questions About Our Data Products
Q: Do you outsource your research or product development?
A: No, we are the sole developer of all our products and services.
Q: How accurate are your data products?
A: Our data products are very accurate. We invest countless man hours in research and only use definitive sources for our raw data.
Q: Does the purchase price include updates?
A: If the product description states that it does.
Q: What file formats do your databases come in?
A: Our database products are delivered in ASCII text, comma-separated-value (CSV) format.
Q: What is a CSV file?
A: It is a human readable data file where each row or line within the file contains
one or more values that are separated with a comma. CSV format is still the most effective way to deliver data to
virtually any platform or development environment.
Q: Can I get your databases in a different format?
A: Not off-the-shelf but possibly as a custom order. We use CSV format because it can be imported in virtually every environment.
Q: How do I import your databases?
A: It depends on the tools you use. We include (or can supply) the SQL scripts for common SQL Servers
(such as Microsoft SQL, MySQL, Oracle, Sybase, DB2) to create the data tables and import the CSV data.
Other tools such as FileMaker, Microsoft Access, and Open Office have Import Wizards to load CSV data formats.
Q: How do I import your databases into Microsoft® Excel?
A: Excel 2003 and earlier versions have a 65,536 rows per worksheet limit (Excel 2007 has increased this to
1,048,576 rows per worksheet), most of our databases contain too much data for a single worksheet so you must first split the file
in to several smaller files and then import each file to a seperate worksheet. We provide a simple split utility at no cost
to aid with this task with your purchase.
Q: When I use Microsoft® Excel I get the error message "File Not Loaded Completely", what's wrong?
A: Your file's "row" count is greater than Excel's row limit, see the previous question.
Q: Your data appears corrupt or is missing records, what can I do?
A: Our data files use the extension ".csv". When using Microsoft Windows, Excel is the default application
used to open files with the ".csv" extension and it will generalize or assume column data type. This creates problems for
data that looks numeric but is actually text (drops leading zeros for example). Change (rename) the data file's extension
from ".csv" to ".txt", then opening the file in Excel allows you to control how the data should be interpreted.
Q: I do not know which database I need to order. Can I get a demo version?
A: All of our data products have a "details" page where you will find sample data and detailed
documentation.
Q: I don't need all the fields in your records, can I buy certain fields only?
A: Yes we can "custom cut" a database however the cost is generally more than the standard product.
Q: I found an error in your data, can I get a refund?
A: This is a difficult question and depends upon the nature of the error.
Our general policy is to review the data, make corrections as appropriate, and supply you a copy of the corrected database.
North American Telephone NPA NXX Data
Q: How often do you update the NPA NXX data?
A: We currently place updates on the website monthly.
Q: How long are the licenses good for?
A: The license for a particular product allows you to use the product as long as you wish under the terms of the original license aggreement however monthly or quarterly updates for Corporate and Distribution Licenses terminate after one year.
Q: I have a Corporate or Distribution License, what's the cost to extend updates?
A: Our product pricing is per annum.
Q: How do I get updates?
A: If you have purchased a Corporate or Distribution license we will send an email to the address you provided us when you made your purchase informing you an update is available.
Q: Do you have 1,000 block NPA NXX assignments?
A: Yes. Some, but not all, of these data products contain this information.
Q: Why does a block number appear in some fields and not in others?
A: If an NXX is assigned to and used by a single carrier we identify the block assignment as "A"
meaning the entire 10,000 block is used by this carrier. For pooled numbers the assigned block
numbers (first digit of the subscriber number) may be "0" through "9".
Q: Do you include Canadian data?
A: Yes, we support the entire North American Numbering Plan, this includes the United States, Canada, and most of the Caribbean.
Q: Do you identify telephone line or service types?
A: Yes, we identify basic land line, wireless, and pager type assignments at the 1,000 and 10,000 block level. These identifications come from initial CO assignments and carrier type information.
Q: Can I use this data to find someone's telephone number?
A: No, we do not provide directory listing type data.
Q: Can your data show if a customer has switched wireless carriers or service?
A: No.
Q: Can I get a list of ported telephone numbers?
A: We do not currently provide this type of data. The official ported number database is available through Neustar and is subject to their licensing fees and strict non-disclosure aggreement.
Q: Do you have wireless LNP data?
A: No, see the previous question.
Q: How are the latitude and longitude coordinates determined?
A: These are geographic coordinates associated with the general area or location served by a particular
exchange. These values may be used to approximate locations and reliably perform distance and radius type
calculations. They are not meant to be used for or guaranteed to be accurate with telecommunications airline mileage
billing calculations, for that you need to use wire and/or rate center V&H coordinates.
Q: What's the difference between your latitude, longitude and V&H coordinates?
A: V&H coordinates are derived from latitude and longitude. Their values are specified in
carrier access and exchange tariffs and should be used when performing telecommunications mileage calculations.
Q: Can I use you NPA NXX data to determine local calls?
A: Yes and no. Our NPA NXX databases do not contain this specific type of data however for the United States
only, when the originating and terminating NPA NXX combinations are in a different LATA the call is long distance. An
intra-LATA call could be a local, local toll, regional toll, or long distance charge type call.
Q: Can I get some sample data?
A: Yes, samples can be found on the product's detail page.
Q: Can I get a sample containing all NXX codes for a particular NPA?
A: No. We will not provide the complete data for a particular area code under the guise of a sample.
Q: Can I get NPA NXX codes mapped to census blocks?
A: We currently do not provide this type of data.
Q: Can I get more access to your NPA NXX lookup utility?
A: Yes, contact us for more information.
Q: Can I lookup an NPA NXX combination from a ZIP code?
A: Maybe. These telephone data products contain the first ZIP or postal code found in use in the general exchange area only. They do not contain a comprehensive cross reference for this type of information.
Q: Do you include all ZIP or postal codes for each NPA NXX combination?
A: No. These are telephone data products, they do not contain full postal code mappings. We may produce data products that do contain this complete information in the future.
United States ZIP Code Data
Q: How often do United States ZIP Codes change?
A: ZIP codes change sporadically. Most of the time there are a few changes while at other times there may be significant changes.
Q: How frequent are your ZIP code updates?
A: The databases are updated quarterly.
Q: Other websites update their data monthly, why don't you?
A: We agree that ZIP code data does change however month to month 5-digit ZIP code changes are minimal. If
significant changes do occur between our quarterly updates we will update our posted data.
Q: Can I purchase a subscription for monthly updates?
A: No, we do not offer subscription purchases of our ZIP code data at the present time but may add them in the future.
Q: Do your ZIP codes contain ZIP+4 data?
A: No, they are 5-digit ZIP code data products only.
Q: What are the latitude and longitude fields used for?
A: The most common use of these fields is the calculation of distance between ZIP codes and determining those
ZIP codes within a given radius. These are the foundation pieces of most dealer locator type programs.
Q: Are the latitude/longitude coordinates centriod or population based?
A: They are centriod based.
Q: What are APO/FPO ZIP Codes?
A: Army/Air Force Post Office (APO) and Fleet Post Office (FPO) ZIP Codes are for mail that is being sent to or received
from military installations located outside the Continental United States.
Q: Do APO/FPO ZIP Codes include latitude/longitude coordinates?
A: No.
Q: What is a ZIP Code and what does ZIP stand for?
A: A ZIP Code is used by the United States Postal Service to identify a specific geographic delivery area.
ZIP is an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan.
Q: What is a ZIP+4 Code?
A: A ZIP+4 Code consists of the original 5-digit ZIP Code plus a 4-digit add-on code. The 4-digit add-on code identifies
a geographic segment within the 5-digit delivery area, such as a city block, office building, etc.
Q: How many types of ZIP Codes are there?
A: Standard, the established and usual ZIP Code used in a specified area; Post Office Box only, similar to Standard but
used for PO Box addresses; Unique, the ZIP Code of a specific large entity; and Military, used for APO/FPO type addresses.
