Fax number validator
Select a country, paste a number and learn right away whether a fax can reach it.
A number that can receive a fax is a landline laid out the way its country writes it. In Canada that means an area code of three digits plus seven more, for example 416 555 0134. This free validator applies the same rule as the Faxturbo sending form, for Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal. It also spots cell ranges and a country code typed twice, and it gives you the number in international form.
Check a number
Why validate a number first
When a fax fails, the file and the connection are rarely to blame. More often the number is wrong: a digit picked up from an email footer, a country code pasted twice, or a cell phone taken for the office line. Nobody answers on the far side, and after a few attempts the transmission is abandoned.
Each country has its own conventions. A Canadian number has ten digits and no leading zero, and the 1 before it is only a long-distance prefix. In Belgium a landline has nine digits and starts with 0, whereas cell numbers begin with 04. Italy holds on to its first 0 when called from abroad, but Belgium, France and Germany lose theirs. The validator is aware of all this and shows two forms: the local one for the Faxturbo form, and the E.164 form used by fax machines and other services.
The check covers how the number is built, not whether the line is connected. A well-formed number can be canceled or can ring a voice phone. For anything important, such as a tax filing or a prescription, copy the number from the organization’s own website or from the latest letter it sent you.
About the number validator
- Is the number I type recorded?
- No. It is examined when you click and then thrown away. No fax goes out, nobody is called, and nothing is stored.
- Why do you reject cell numbers?
- A fax needs a fixed line ending at either a dedicated fax device or a server that handles faxes. A cell phone cannot interpret the signal, so the call just rings or reaches a voicemail, and no page gets printed.
- Does a valid result guarantee delivery?
- It tells you the number is shaped correctly, which eliminates most causes of failure. The line must still be active and linked to a device that is on. If a send fails anyway, check the number with the recipient.
Keep exploring
More pages to help you prepare, send or track a fax.