I use google voice, and in the past other virtual phone numbers but many services don’t fully work. When you request a code, you never receive it and in some cases they tell you they don’t accept the virtual number.
packtreefly 2 days ago [-]
They exist. Services treat control of the number as equivalent to control of the account, and expect you to maintain that control.
Throwaway phone numbers are not a viable low cost or no cost alternative in most normal user signup scenarios, and they're implemented as a privacy invasive form of spam prevention for that exact reason.
fragmede 3 days ago [-]
I've always wondered what it would take to be my own telephone company and get an entire prefix, so I can give out unique phone numbers, kinda like how's privacy.com does for credit cards.
potamic 3 days ago [-]
The numbers would quickly be blacklisted by websites. You need a very large pool of numbers and make sure you don't reuse numbers too often. Not sure if it's practical.
JohnFen 3 days ago [-]
In the US, you can approximate this with a cheap prepaid service like a Tracfone.
piratesAndSons 3 days ago [-]
Don't get it? Can you explain further ?
JohnFen 3 days ago [-]
For about $20, you can buy a phone that comes with 10 minutes of talk time and has its own phone number. You can use that as a temp number. If you don't buy more time for that phone, the number will go away and you can then buy time for it and get a different number.
Or, what I do, is just keep it loaded with a minimal amount of minutes and use the same number for all such registration purposes.
I started doing this when I needed a whatsapp account, but didn't want to give facebook my phone number. I just keep that phone number alive, but never use it for anything else, and never even turn the phone on.
madamelic 3 days ago [-]
Sometimes won't work, especially larger sites.
I used to run a service that was using Twilio to do exactly what OP is asking. These sites often flag and block all phone numbers that are virtual or prepaid.
JohnFen 3 days ago [-]
I've been doing this for about a decade and have never encountered that problem personally. Not saying that it doesn't happen, but it's uncommon enough for at least me to never come across it.
dabinat 3 days ago [-]
There are apps like Hushed where you can generate a working phone number for a pre-determined period of time.
Throwaway phone numbers are not a viable low cost or no cost alternative in most normal user signup scenarios, and they're implemented as a privacy invasive form of spam prevention for that exact reason.
Or, what I do, is just keep it loaded with a minimal amount of minutes and use the same number for all such registration purposes.
I started doing this when I needed a whatsapp account, but didn't want to give facebook my phone number. I just keep that phone number alive, but never use it for anything else, and never even turn the phone on.
I used to run a service that was using Twilio to do exactly what OP is asking. These sites often flag and block all phone numbers that are virtual or prepaid.