Ever been signing up for a new business tool or trying to take advantage of a free trial when you’re asked to enter your phone number? This is becoming an all-too-common practice among software tools and online services nowadays, with companies hoping that you’ll give out your number as freely as your email address.
The big problem with sharing your phone number online is that it gives people a much more direct and personal way to reach you. Share it too many times, and you’ll end up on marketing lists you never remember signing up for, being called multiple times a day from salespeople and scammers.
So, what can you do to prevent this? One solution is to buy and use temporary numbers for all those signups that require a phone number for no good reason. We’re walking you through how to use these numbers, their benefits, and when you shouldn’t use them, in this guide.
What Are Temporary Numbers?
Temporary numbers are phone numbers that you can buy from providers online.
There are two types of numbers: VoIP numbers and non-VoIP numbers. We’re focusing on non-VoIP numbers in this guide, since these are the ones that are tied to a real SIM, just like your own number, and should be accepted by online service providers.
The company you purchase the number from retains ownership; you’re simply renting it for a short period—typically 20–60 minutes. This allows you to complete any necessary sign-ups and discard the number afterward, without worrying about ending up on marketing lists.
Why Your Business Should Use a Temporary Non-VoIP Number
Wondering about the benefits of using a temporary number in place of your own? Here are a few of the key reasons why your business should use a temporary number:
- You can protect your privacy, as well as the privacy of your employees, when signing up for new tools and services
- Since it’s not your own business number that could get leaked, you’re at a much reduced risk of being targeted by hackers for SIM-swap attempts or social engineering
- You’ll have a more successful verification than you would with a VoIP (internet-based) number
Ultimately, using temporary numbers is very rarely essential, but it will help you protect your company data and avoid the side effects of sharing this data too freely.
How to Use Temporary Numbers for Signups
If you’ve never used a temporary number for online signups before, you’ll be happy to know that the process is pretty straightforward.
Start by finding a temporary number provider. Choose a provider with plenty of positive customer reviews, like SMSPool—visit this page for more info.
When you’re ready, buy the number(s) you need and enter that number into the required field for whatever online service you’re signing up to.
You’ll then receive the SMS verification code through the number provider online, and you can enter this to complete the signup process.
When the number is no longer needed, you can simply discard it.
When You Shouldn’t Use A Temporary Number
Let’s finish with a quick look at when you shouldn’t use a temporary number.
The main one is if you’re signing up for a service where providing your real number is important for security reasons, such as for online banking or anything that involves sensitive or private data.
You also can’t use temporary numbers for signups that require two-factor authentication every time you want to log in. While it’s fine if you only plan to log in once (such as to access a one-time deal and move on), it’s going to create problems if you need to log in multiple times and need the same number that you provided the first time.
Takeaway
Hopefully, this guide has helped you to understand what non-VoIP numbers are, and when you might want to buy temporary numbers for business signups.
To reiterate, there are some occasions when using your own number is the only viable option. But for signing up for new services or testing online tools that you don’t plan to use in the long run, they can be the much safer alternative to sharing your personal or business data.
Just make sure to buy your number from a reputable provider, so it has a higher chance of working as intended and being accepted rather than flagged as spam during the signup process.