# Line type

Line type is the kind of service a phone number was allocated for: mobile, fixed line, VoIP, toll-free, premium rate, shared cost and the rest.

Date: 2026-09-10

Line type is the kind of service a phone number was allocated for. Spaw answers one of `mobile`, `fixed_line`, `fixed_line_or_mobile`, `voip`, `toll_free`, `premium_rate`, `shared_cost`, `personal_number`, `pager`, `uan`, `voicemail` or `unknown`.

## What Spaw answers

`line_type` carries the value and `line_type_source` says which dataset decided it: `numbering_plan` when the metadata for the prefix was enough, `block_allocation` when a North American `fixed_line_or_mobile` was settled by looking up who holds the block.

Four line types carry weight on the phone risk score: premium rate +60, VoIP +30, pager +30 and shared cost +20. The reasoning is about who pays and who can be reached, not about the technology being worse.

## What it is not

Line type is not a claim that the handset is reachable today, and it is not port-aware — it describes the allocation. `fixed_line_or_mobile` is a real answer, not a failure: in the North American plan the two share blocks, and when the block holder settles nothing the honest answer is that both remain possible.

Reference: https://spaw.co/glossary/line-type