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max2

macrumors 603
Original poster
May 31, 2015
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So many apps, companies, etc want your phone number nowadays. Anyway to have a disposable number to be able to make sure if your number starts getting spam calls you can cut it off easily by knowing which app or company sold your number ?
 
Not sure if I understand the question. But I think the OP is asking if I have a second number to give out to companies/apps that require a number. Well, I don't. I have only one phone number. With a nifty feature on these phones that allow me to block certain numbers, I don't have to worry to much about spam calls. I do have a spam email for that use. Emails accounts are free, phone numbers aren't.

Besides, I have a different ringtone to screen my calls; one for friends and family, one for she who must be obeyed (answer on the first ring;)) and a general ring tone. I've been getting a lot of teller marketing calls for a while, but blocking calls resolved it up PDQ.
 
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Handing out a unique number per company would be exceedingly useful and allow you to find out where leaks are and who is selling your information. Sadly, other than buying dozens of pay as you go SIM cards, this would be exceedingly hard to do and phone companies, law enforcement, and government agencies would not like you to do this.

Only 15 years ago I was able to order 5 SIM cards a month from o2, each with their own number and no need to put credit on to activate them. These were intended to be sim packs you handed out to friends and family, however they were used for all sorts of illicit things from what I can remember.
 
I'd recommend searching the App Store for "burner phone". There are a plethora of apps that give you a number you can ditch at your convenience.
 
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So many apps, companies, etc want your phone number nowadays. Anyway to have a disposable number to be able to make sure if your number starts getting spam calls you can cut it off easily by knowing which app or company sold your number ?
Couldn’t you just buy a sim plan (pay as you go) with minimum credit, and forward it to your regular phone number? Then if it starts getting spam, ditch it.

Generally I give my landline if I have to give a number. I rarely give out my actual one. Keeps spam down to a minimum.
 
Google Voice. Not quite EXACTLY what the OP is looking for, but it would be a nice layer of protection between the customer and company. It also allows call blocking at a level where the caller hears a message as though the number is disconnected once the number has been added to the block list. Of course - Google Voice is only available in the US I believe...
 
Sounds like something along the lines of Google Voice or perhaps Sideline should do the trick.
 
Not sure if I understand the question. But I think the OP is asking if I have a second number...
the OP's initial post was rather obvious?

the OP might consider changing their phone# every so often. unlike the days of old; peeps dont remember phone numbers.
along those lines; change your credit card#'s, cking acc#...
use a po box as your primary residance. Reference your po box as street adr of your post office & the box# as "suite 1234" or "unit 1234"
 
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