Check the identity of the number
A local number, a fixed line and a DID range behave differently even inside the same country. Match the offer to the job before you look at the price.
- Country and area code — 646 is not interchangeable with 212, and a national prefix is not a city presence
- Number type — local, toll-free, national, fixed, mobile-range or DID block
- Prefix and range size when you are buying more than one number
- Whether the number has a service-address requirement in that country
Check what the number can do
Capabilities and channels are the two fields buyers skip most often. Capabilities say which traffic types the number accepts; channels say how much of it can happen at once. A single-channel number is fine for a callback line and useless for a support queue.
- Voice in, voice out, SMS in, SMS out, fax — listed separately, not as one badge
- Concurrent channels, and what happens to calls above that limit
- Whether inbound SMS from short codes and A2P senders is included
- The delivery format: SIP credentials, forwarding to your number, or a portal login
Check the commercial terms
Price per month is only part of the cost. Setup fees, minimum order size and the billing cycle change the real number, and the replacement window decides what happens on a bad month.
- Setup fee and minimum order
- Billing: one-off, monthly or per-minute, and when renewal falls due
- Replacement guarantee in days, and what it covers
- Delivery speed: instant, within the hour, same day or scheduled
Read the trust signals, not just the stars
Every offer shows how complete its specification is, when it was last verified, and how the seller's previous orders ended. An offer with unconfirmed fields is not automatically bad — a lot of sellers simply do not fill everything in — but you should treat every blank as a question to ask in the chat before funding, because a blank field is hard to dispute against.
- Details percentage and the list of unconfirmed fields
- Last verified date — stale inventory is the most common cause of dead numbers
- Completed orders and dispute outcomes for that seller
- Whether a test or trial is offered before the full order
Takeaways
- Match number type to the job before comparing prices
- Capabilities and channels decide whether the number can do your work
- Every blank field is a question for the chat, not a risk to accept
- Ask for the test when one is offered — it is free evidence