How to Get an Unlisted Cell Phone Number
Without question, one of the greatest advantages to owning a cell phone, and using it as your primary phone, is the ability to manage who can contact you and allows you to control the experience. A great advantage of having a cell phone is that typically the number is unlisted, so you aren’t being hassled by telemarketers and your number isn’t readily available to the general public. Unfortunately, as technology continues to advance, so do the ways that shady marketing firms find to circumvent unlisted cell phone numbers. There was a time when it was assumed that your cell phone number was completely private and the only people who had it were the people you gave it to. These days it’s become very difficult to keep your cell number unlisted, but here are some tips to help you manage your experience better.
Ask Your Cell Phone Provider for an Unlisted Number
There was a time when you could assume that your provider was not sharing
your contact information with anyone. Those days are sadly over. If you are
getting new cell service with a provider, make sure you get in writing that they
will not sell your information to other companies. Frequently, cell phone
providers (particularly some smaller ones) will subsidize the “great” cell phone
deals they offer by reselling your information to marketing firms who, in turn,
sell your number to telemarketers, local businesses, and anyone else willing to
pay them for the information. If the attendant at the cell phone store can’t
answer your question about keeping your information private, then escalate to a
manager. Once your information makes it into the hands of a marketing company,
it becomes nearly impossible to track down and stop them.
Keep Your Cell Phone Number Top Secret
Think of your cell phone number like your credit card or social security numbers. You don’t want to give it out to just anyone, but only to people you trust. Even if your provider does keep your number unlisted, think about all the times you fill out forms in person and online that include your cell phone number. Every time you are at a State Fair or Home and Garden Show and fill out those little slips for prize drawings, and you include your cell number, you are giving your name and number out to complete strangers. And in some cases, those strangers sell those boxes of slips to companies who enter that data into a spreadsheet and resell it in the same way listed above. Once again, your “unlisted” number is made available to whoever is willing to pay for it.
The same goes for online forms. Keep in mind that whenever you fill something out online and include your cell phone number, that data is likely being recorded, kept, and possibly resold unless they expressly promote that they do not share information with other companies. It is more likely safer to use your real home address, if you don’t mind getting junk mail. But for most people, more junk mail is much easier to deal with than marketing calls at all hours of the day. At least you can recycle the junk mail, or use it as kindling in the fireplace.
The above is also true for texting. Be careful of the services you send SMS and MMS messages to. They may also be harvesting your information and before you know it you may start receiving marketing texts. This can be particularly irksome for individuals who have a limited number of texts on their calling plans, or who get charged for each text they receive. Again, it’s important to clarify this information with your service provider.
Consider Online Options
At this point you are probably wondering if there is a safe way you can give out your phone number and control what happens to it. Even if you take all the precautions listed above and keep your number secure, there is still a possibility that it can make it into the hands of a marketing company that resells it. It only takes one slip-up to make your number widely available.
If you want to exercise as much control as possible over who calls you and how you manage those calls, try looking into online phone number management services. One specific free service I can recommend is Google Voice. With Google Voice, you get a custom phone number absolutely free, and you can manage the numbers you accept, the numbers you block, voice mail, and which numbers ring to which phone. Essentially, you can set up a list of numbers that ring to your phone, and everything else you can automatically send to voice mail. This way, you won’t miss an important message if someone who isn’t on your list calls, but telemarketers will be left out in the cold when they try to reach you. There are several other online services like this, although I prefer Google Voice because the price is right (free), and it offers a great deal of customizable features.
To recap:
- Ask your provider if your information is kept secure
- Be careful who you call and text
- Don’t give out your information to just anyone
- Look into online phone number management services
Unfortunately, doing all these things may still not keep you from receiving unwanted calls. But you will be considerably more fortified than individuals who do not take these few simple steps. And the value of not receiving annoying and unwanted calls will make it well worth your effort.