Skip to main content

Add businesses for number reputation

Use of number reputation requires that all calling enterprises must first be registered. The registration process guarantees that only legally-operating enterprises are eligible for the benefits of registration. Hiya may verify businesses as needed to protect against possible service abuse, but most registrations will be completed within minutes.

Step 1: Register the business​

Once API access is enabled, the first step for any business is registration. Hiya requires that any phone numbers used in this service must be associated with a known, legitimate calling business created via the Register a new business API call. New businesses will be vetted during registration prior to allowing phone numbers to be associated with it. Registering a business requires at a minimum the following information:

  • Business name (legal and ‘DBA’)
  • Physical mailing address (city, province/state and country at minimum)
  • Website
  • Information for a contact at the business (name, email, phone number)
  • Dun & Bradstreet DUNS number (may be optional)

Note: Business information will not be displayed as caller ID. The Number Reputation APIs are only for the purpose of registration and seeing number reputation information, and do not enable any customization of outbound caller ID display. That is provided in a separate service. For more info, see Hiya Connect Branding.

Once submitted, Hiya will begin a verification process of the provided business information. The new business will be assigned a ‘business ID’ for reference. The Get business by ID API call can check on the verification status of a business. Verification usually takes no more than a couple of minutes.

Note: Until a business has been verified, the API calls to associate phone numbers with that business or to check number reputation status will not be available.

Please note that unless other arrangements have been made with Hiya, all enterprises must have a DUNS number from Dun & Bradstreet. If you or one of your customers needs assistance in getting or finding their DUNS number, please visit https://www.dnb.com.

Step 2: Register the phone numbers of the business​

Once a business has been verified, phone numbers can be registered for that business using the Register phone numbers API call. Hiya strongly recommends that businesses register all their phone numbers, not just currently active numbers or ones with a spam labeling problem.

Note: Phone numbers will first be vetted by Hiya to confirm their validity, and to protect against errors or possible abuse. This vetting process usually takes a few seconds per phone number, and progress can be checked using the Get phone number status API call.

When registering phone numbers, a common label (called a “job name”) can be provided to any batch of phone numbers provided for registration, to track that specific batch of phone numbers. It is best to batch phone numbers based on common characteristics and provide a job name which reflects that characteristic, such as those used for a common purpose or from a common location. For example:

  • “Salt Lake City call center lines”
  • “Office desk phones”
  • “Temp lines for summer pledge drive”

Providing a job name is optional, and phone numbers added without a job name can be found via API under an empty job name. Job names are not used in any way for caller ID and are not displayed anywhere outside of the registration service.

It’s important to maintain an accurate list of registered phone numbers using the Register phone numbers and the Remove phone numbers API calls. Failure to maintain accurate registration numbers may result in de-registration and/or loss of access to the Number Reputation APIs.