HLR Lookup / IMSI Cleanup

HLR or Home Location Register is a central database containing details of each mobile phone subscriber that is authorized to use the GSM core network.

Mobimex HLR lookup service cost is 0.007 EUR per lookup. With these costs Mobimex keeps the best price on the Net.

IMSI or International Mobile Subscriber Identity is a unique number associated with all GSM networks and mobile phone users. This unique number is stored inside the mobile phone SIM card. The used network identifies each mobile phone subscriber by this particular number. The IMSI provides information such as location of call, user preferences and account status.  

Mobimex HLR lookup service helps you send a "query" to both HLR and IMSI databases and receive the following information: 

• Is the number alive - determines if the number is in use - some people close their mobile contracts or stop paying their phone bills.
• Is the phone number in use - determines the phone number status – in some cases people have more than one SIM cards from different countries. For example, a German subscriber has his own UK number, but don’t use it until being again in the United Kingdom.
• What is the current mobile network / mobile operator - determines to which mobile provider a particular mobile number is subscribed. Often consumers change their mobile service providers, for example a Vodafone subscriber can move to D1 but keeps their Vodafone number.
• Is the number in roaming - determines the roaming status of the mobile subscriber. ‘Roaming’ refers to the extending of connectivity service in a location different from where the mobile service is initially registered, usually when subscribers are in another country and their mobile phone automatically connects to a local service provider.
• From where the phone number comes- determines to which country the number "belongs" to. This information is generally accessible and the HLR is not needed, because every number begins with a short code. For example code beginning with +49 is a German phone number.
  

You can see how an HLR works on the graph below.

What you can do with this information? 

• Call centers - use HLR lookup to determine where the caller location is.
• Websites - determine if the phone number is correct and turned on, without sending an SMS.
• Broadcasts - see below.
  

How this information helps you, if you decide to do broadcasts? 

• When you do a broadcast huge lists with phone numbers are used. Usually these numbers have not been updated for months. When you send an SMS you pay for it no matter if it’s been delivered or not. To avoid situations like this, it is better to do an HLR lookup (cleanup) and remove the "dead" numbers. Then, you can broadcast the numbers for at least 3-4 months, knowing that numbers are clean. If you receive DLR you can dynamically update you database with new phone numbers.
  

• Let’s suppose you have an SMS route that is very cheap for Vodafone, but expensive for D1. Also you have another route that works with D1 only and is cheap. If you have the HLR information, you can send SMS to Vodafone numbers via first route, and to D1 numbers via the second one.
  

• If you need to do broadcast to certain operators, for example only for Vodafone, because of a premium billable SMS service you use with this operator, then you can use the HLR information and skip sending SMS to D1 subscribers.
  

 We can do HLR lookup on your database or alternatively you can connect directly to our HLR server by using URL, XML, JSON, SMPP protocol, CSV, MySQL*, FTP* (methods with * requires approval from our side).