Ok this dilemma is likely nothing new for anyone or any company with a public web form.
Actual data verification is essential. Standard validation methods are very easily tricked by novice surfers, thus very often poor data is passed.
Many entities have turned to 3rd party solutions such as http://www.targusinfo.com/solutions/verification/
In a nut shell this is what they offer for anyone who has a public web form.
Note: I am only speaking on the United States.
real-time CHECKING to confirm the address entered on the form is GOOD (street, zip, city and state) - I assume the postal database is somehow used?
Then the area code and prefix (first 6 digits) of the phone number is checked against the address data for accuracy. Lastly the email address is validated as GOOD via instant mail server and mx record checks. In the end the data provided via the form with this type of advanced validation is often considered more accurate and reliable, especially when used for marketing purposes.
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So my question is as follows?
Can anyone offer an alternative to 3rd party paid solutions such as Targus to do a similar scope of tasks?
My thoughts:
example for the email might involve something like the following???
$smtp_server = fsockopen("mail.XXX.com", 25, $errno, $errstr, 30);
fwrite($smtp_server, "HELO hi\r\n");
fwrite($smtp_server, "MAIL FROM: \r\n");
fwrite($smtp_server, "RCPT TO: \r\n");
any thoughts, can anyone assist in this? my above code of just the email validation is a radical guess based on "Uncle Google" research.
Has anyone done anything like this?
Thanks in advance.