Phone number validation

An Emergency Mass Notification System is only as effective as the contact information it contains. For this reason,

BlackBerry AtHoc

provides a phone number validation feature that applies to all phone numbers, no matter which country they belong to. It also enforces clean data wherever data can be entered.

The validation feature gives operators higher confidence before an alert is sent that end users with phone numbers are reachable. One way it does this is by ensuring that end users completing Self Service profiles enter actual phone numbers, instead of invalid data such as “No Phone” or “N/A.” Validating phone numbers when they are created in the system makes the alerting process more rapid and efficient by preventing the Telephony Delivery Service from wasting time trying to send telephone notifications to invalid numbers.

BlackBerry AtHoc

provides this feature for customers operating outside or calling users who are outside the United States. Validated phone numbers can be stored in the internationally recognized E.164 format, ensuring that alerts sent by delivery services deployed throughout the world will reach their destinations.

BlackBerry AtHoc

uses a third-party library to validate phone numbers.

BlackBerry AtHoc

works with customers to make sure that automated data imports, including Active Directory sync, .csv imports, and direct SDK integrations, will send phone numbers to the server in the correct format. The following sections provide the validation rules and best practices for getting the most out of this feature.

For

BlackBerry AtHoc

release 6.1.8.88 and earlier releases, you must continue to use 011 instead of + at the beginning of all international phone numbers.

BlackBerry AtHoc

release 6.1.8.89 and later releases fully support the leading + method. Dialing 011 will continue to be supported after upgrade to 6.1.8.89 for organizations with a U.S. country code since 001 is the U.S. exit code.