Objective

Before sending an SMS message, a Home Location Register (HLR) Lookup request lets you check whether the recipient's mobile number is still valid and active. The result also indicates the operator the number is attached to.

By checking your numbers with HLR Lookup, you improve the deliverability of your SMS campaigns and avoid sending failures.

HLR Lookup also lets you clean your number lists by identifying inactive or unassigned numbers, to keep your customer file up to date.

This guide explains how to use HLR Lookup from your OVHcloud Control Panel.

Requirements

• An OVHcloud SMS account with SMS credits.

Instructions

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Accessing the OVHcloud Control Panel

• Direct link: SMS
• To access your services: Telecom > SMS > Select your SMS account

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Select the Message and campaign > SMS management tab.

Click HLR.

New HLR request

Enter the number you want to test, then click Send lookup.

Each request is charged 0.1 SMS credit. See the SMS pricing for more details.

Viewing past requests

The results of your requests appear in the table at the bottom of the page.

The different statuses

HLR reports indicate:

• the date of the HLR request;
• the cost of the HLR request;
• the status of the HLR request;
• the recipient's number;
• the recipient's operator;
• the recipient's active/inactive status;
• the recipient's reachability;
• the recipient's ported status;
• the recipient's roaming status.

Importing the recipients file

Go to Contacts > Create a contact list and add your file in .csv or .txt format.

Refer to the "SMS recipient list" guide for more details.

Cleaning the file

Once your address book is uploaded to the Control Panel, select it and proceed with the cleaning.

Two options are available:

• Freemium: deduplication and syntax checks (free).
• Premium: deduplication and verification of contact validity via an HLR request (this action is charged 0.1 SMS credit per contact).

Cleaning the database deduplicates your contacts and removes those that are invalid. The cleaned file replaces the old one, which is saved and remains accessible. You will receive a report by email at the end of the operation.

Go further

Talk to our community of users.