Fictional and test phone numbers: the ranges regulators reserve and what a lookup answers

A fictional phone number is one a regulator or numbering administrator keeps out of service so that it can be printed, filmed or broadcast without ringing anyone: 555-0100 to 555-0199 under every North American area code, twenty Ofcom drama ranges in the UK such as 07700 900xxx and 020 7946 0xxx, six ARCEP blocks in France, a list of ACMA numbers in Australia, and 089 011 0xxx in Ireland. A Spaw phone lookup answers a number in any of them valid: true with is_fictional: true and the fictional signal (+80), which the default SMS policy blocks. libphonenumber, the numbering metadata behind Android and many validators, rejects four of those ranges outright (five, counting Ireland's 020 access code) and accepts the rest as ordinary numbers; this guide lists every reserved range next to what libphonenumber 9.0.37 says about it and what Spaw answers, then covers Spaw's eight test numbers, which are a different thing.

Each range comes from its publisher's own page or document, read on 27 September 2026: NANPA's 555 line numbers page (https://www.nanpa.com/numbering/555-line-numbers), Ofcom's telephone numbers for use in TV and radio drama programmes, last updated 11 May 2023 (https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/phone-numbers/numbers-for-drama), ARCEP's national numbering plan in the version of 1 January 2026, published with decision 2018-0881 (https://www.arcep.fr/uploads/tx_gsavis/18-0881.pdf), ACMA's phone numbers for use in TV shows, films and creative works, last updated 3 September 2026 (https://www.acma.gov.au/phone-numbers-use-tv-shows-films-and-creative-works), read from the Internet Archive's capture of 14 September 2026 (https://web.archive.org/web/20260914053728/https://www.acma.gov.au/phone-numbers-use-tv-shows-films-and-creative-works) because acma.gov.au refused automated requests that day, and ComReg's numbering conditions of use, document 15/136R4 of 3 April 2024, Table 3 (https://www.comreg.ie/publication/numbering-conditions-of-use-and-application-process-3). Spaw bundles them in one file, fictional-ranges, version 2026-09-27, and every valid answer, other than the test numbers, cites that version in sources. The answers quoted below were produced on 27 September 2026 by running libphonenumber 9.0.37 and the lookup on each example number. The live service ran libphonenumber 9.0.40 that day, which answers every number quoted here the same way, carrier included.

What every fictional number answers

A number in one of these ranges keeps the plan's shape, so the lookup formats it and types it like any other number, and then flags it:

• valid is true and is_fictional is true. The number is never in service, but it is a well-formed number of its plan.
• line_type is the type the regulator gives the range. Where libphonenumber rejects the range, the bundled file declares that type, and line_type_source stays numbering_plan.
• risk_signals carries fictional at +80. Another signal adds to it, capped at 100: a UK premium-rate drama number also carries premium_rate (+60), and an Australian 1300 number shared_cost (+20).
• Under the default SMS policy, ok_to_send is false with blocked_by: "fictional". The score of 80 is also above the default ceiling of 60, so an account that removes fictional from its block signals still gets ok_to_send: false, with blocked_by: "risk_score", unless it raises the ceiling too.
• The answer costs one credit, like any valid answer, and the number is never sent to the live carrier check.

A number a digit short or long of a range is not in it: each entry in the file carries the length of its numbers, so 020 7946 001 answers invalid_number, like any number the plan does not allow, and costs nothing.

North America: 555-0100 to 555-0199

NANPA's page says that "the fictitious, non-working numbers, 555-0100 through 555-0199, will remain reserved for entertainment/advertising". The same page says that the other 555 line numbers were returned to NANPA's inventory and that two remain in use: 555-1212 for directory assistance and 555-4334. So only the hundred 01XX lines under each area code are fictional; a 555 number outside them is not safe to print.

NANPA's central office code table lists the 555 code as reserved under all 378 area codes it covers, those of the United States and its territories, in the copy Spaw synced on 26 September 2026, and the Canadian table (CNAC's) does the same under all 56 Canadian area codes in the copy of 23 September 2026. That is why reserved_block appears beside fictional under 212 and 416. Under an area code neither table covers, such as Jamaica's 876, the score stays 80. The NANP entry declares no line type, so a 555-01XX number under an area code that does not exist stays invalid.

United Kingdom: Ofcom's twenty drama ranges

Ofcom recommends a thousand numbers in each of fifteen geographic areas, the no-area range 01632 960xxx for any area code it did not list, and four non-geographic ranges. It says the numbers "will not be allocated to communications providers in the foreseeable future". Every row answers valid, is_fictional: true and blocked_by: "fictional".

In the copy of Ofcom's numbering table Spaw synced on 26 September 2026, 18 of the 20 ranges sit in blocks no provider holds, which Spaw stores as block_status: unassigned; the freephone and premium-rate ranges have no row. The reason is never unassigned_block: the fictional range wins, as what an unassigned block means explains. The United Kingdom page counts the twenty ranges.

France: ARCEP's six audiovisual blocks

ARCEP's plan reserves six blocks of 10,000 numbers "pour œuvres audiovisuelles", under the roots 01 99 00, 02 61 91, 03 53 01, 04 65 71, 05 36 49 and 06 39 98, and says ARCEP does not attribute them. The decision that created them says they can neither call, nor be used as a caller ID, nor be called. It describes them as "six blocs de numéros géographiques et mobiles de 10 000 numéros chacun", which is why Spaw types the five geographic roots fixed_line and 06 39 98 mobile.

The sixth root belongs to Mayotte, not metropolitan France. ARCEP's mobile table gives 06 39 to Mayotte, whose numbers are dialled under +262, and lists Mayotte's mobile roots as 06390 to 06398 and 063990 to 063997 and 063999, skipping 063998. From abroad the audiovisual number is +262 639 98 xx xx, and the lookup answers country: "YT". Written as +33 6 39 98 xx xx it is no number in either plan and answers invalid_number, and so does 0639 98 12 34 sent with country FR; send country YT or the +262 form.

In the copy of ARCEP's table Spaw synced on 24 September 2026, none of the five metropolitan blocks has a row, and a geographic number absent from that table, which Spaw treats as complete for French fixed lines, would on its own read as a block nobody holds. The fictional range takes precedence: the answer is valid and flagged, while a neighbour such as 04 65 70 51 23, outside every attributed range, still answers unassigned_block. The zone names in the table are those of ARCEP decision 2019-0954 of 11 July 2019 (annex, 2.3.3 b, https://www.arcep.fr/uploads/tx_gsavis/19-0954.pdf, read 27 September 2026). The same decision turned 01 to 05 numbers into numéros polyvalents from 1 January 2023, and the current plan (2.3.6 f) allocates them without restriction across metropolitan France, so a zone says where a range was first allocated, not where its subscriber is. The France page counts five ranges, and the Mayotte page the sixth.

Australia: ACMA's numbers for creative works

ACMA says the numbers "do not belong to people or businesses" and are free to use in works of fiction. It reserves eight geographic blocks of 10,000 numbers and 41 single numbers. Every row answers valid, is_fictional: true and blocked_by: "fictional".

The mobiles are single numbers, not a block, and ACMA lists exactly these thirty, in this order: 0491 570 006, 0491 570 156, 0491 570 157, 0491 570 158, 0491 570 159, 0491 570 110, 0491 570 313, 0491 570 737, 0491 571 266, 0491 571 491, 0491 571 804, 0491 572 549, 0491 572 665, 0491 572 983, 0491 573 770, 0491 573 087, 0491 574 118, 0491 574 632, 0491 575 254, 0491 575 789, 0491 576 398, 0491 576 801, 0491 577 426, 0491 577 644, 0491 578 957, 0491 578 148, 0491 578 888, 0491 579 212, 0491 579 760 and 0491 579 455. The freephone and local-rate numbers are single numbers too: 1800 160 401, 1800 975 707, 1800 975 708, 1800 975 709, 1800 975 710 and 1800 975 711, then 1300 975 707, 1300 975 708, 1300 975 709, 1300 975 710 and 1300 975 711. Their neighbours are ordinary numbers: the mobile after 0491 570 006 answers valid, mobile and is_fictional: false, and the freephone after 1800 160 401 answers valid, toll_free and is_fictional: false. libphonenumber accepts every ACMA number as an ordinary number of its type, so a validator that relies on it alone passes a drama mobile as a real one. The acma.gov.au page refused automated requests on 27 September 2026, so the list was copied from the Internet Archive's capture of that page of 14 September 2026, which carries the 3 September date; the capture of 25 July 2026 lists the same 49 entries. The Australia page counts eight ranges and 41 single numbers.

Ireland: 089 011 0xxx and 020

ComReg's Table 3 designates the whole 020 access code "Drama", with seven-digit subscriber numbers and the note "Reserved for Drama purposes", and notes under 089 that "number range 089 011 0000 to 089 011 0999 is reserved for drama use".

The 020 code is in the bundled file with its source, but ComReg gives it no line type and libphonenumber rejects it, so the entry changes no answer: +353 20 912 3456 answers invalid_number, free, with is_fictional null. Declaring a type ComReg does not give would be inventing one. The 089 range is the one that matters for a sign-up form, because libphonenumber accepts it as an ordinary mobile. Spaw syncs no Irish allocation table, as the phone data sources page records, so an Irish answer comes from the numbering metadata and this file; the Ireland page counts the two ranges.

Where libphonenumber and the regulators disagree

libphonenumber 9.0.37 rejects five of the reserved ranges: Ofcom's 0115 496 0xxx, 01632 960xxx and 07700 900xxx, ARCEP's 06 39 98 and ComReg's 020. It accepts every other one as an ordinary number of its type, so it cannot tell a drama number from a real one in either direction. A validator built on the metadata alone refuses 07700 900123, the UK's drama mobile, and accepts 0491 570 006, the first number on ACMA's list.

Spaw answers four of the five rejected ranges as valid, with the type the regulator gives them, because the bundled file declares that type; ComReg's 020 stays invalid because no type is declared for it. The phone number formatter shows what the metadata says about a number: its "fits the plan" column follows libphonenumber, except where a fictional range declares a type.

Spaw's test numbers are not the fiction ranges

Spaw's eight test numbers sit in the Washington 555-01XX block, but they are not looked up: each answers a fixed scenario before any data is read, costs no credits, leaves no repeat marker and is never live-checked. Only one of them is the fictional scenario.

+1 202 555 0104 answers unassigned_block and +1 202 555 0106 invalid_number. Every other 555-01XX number, +1 202 555 0107 included, is an ordinary fictional lookup: charged one credit, is_fictional: true, and a score of 100 where the area code's regulator table (NANPA's, or CNAC's for Canada) lists its 555 code as reserved, 80 where Spaw has no table for the area code. The phone intelligence guide keeps the test numbers' full answers.

What Spaw does not claim

• A number outside the file is not proven real. is_fictional: false means only that the number is in none of the ranges Spaw carries. Other regulators may set numbers aside for fiction; their ranges are not in the file, and a number in them answers as the plan and the regulator's table say.
• carrier on a fictional answer, where it is not null, names the network the surrounding range was first given to, from the regulator's table or libphonenumber's carrier data: with no Australian table installed, 0491 570 006 answers Telstra from the carrier data. Nobody holds the reserved number.
• Spaw does no reverse lookup: it names no owner and no caller, for these numbers or any other.
• ok_to_send is a fraud and deliverability decision, not consent and not a do-not-call scrub.
• The live carrier-network check (hlr: true) is not enabled on the service: hlr_checked answers false and nothing extra is charged.

What to do next

• Use the test numbers to exercise each answer in a test suite: they are free and fixed. A drama number exercises the charged production path, at one credit a lookup.
• Read how is_fictional combines with other signals on the fictional signal page and in the fictional number entry.
• See each country's reserved ranges counted, and its numbering plan, under phone facts by country, starting with the United States.
• Turn the flag into a sending rule with the SMS policy.