Scott Swedorski wrote:
What we will probably have to do here is create a new MAGICAL element for phone numbers. Please post as many different suggestions on formats so we can make sure to cover as many as possible.
Here are some standard USA ones:
###-###-####
(###)-###-####
(###) ###-####
###.###.####
Even for the US, where phone numbers have a fixed number of digits, you end up with half a dozen or a dozen 'acceptable' permutations on formats. For the various countries in Europe, the number of permutations would be far greater. For the rest of the world we might as well forget it! The number of digits in country codes alone may be one, two or three digits and the same goes for area codes. And then there are endless variations in local number combinations for all those countries out there...
I think phone number verification may be workable when applied to an individual country (e.g. the US), but not when attempted for a full range of international target audiences. The cost in terms of frustrated, lost customers would far exceed any possible gains. So, my recommendation would be to drop the whole idea of phone number format verification if the target audience is international!