A Simple Guide to Using Temporary Non-VoIP Numbers for Online Signups

If you’re signing up for an online service of any kind, you’ll need to be prepared to hand over your personal details. Once upon a time, you could get away with sharing just your email address. But now, as businesses work to crack down on fake accounts, it’s now a common requirement to provide your phone number as an extra layer of identification.

But what about if you want to use the internet without having to disclose your personal data? It’s understandable if you don’t like the idea of being signed up for marketing communications you didn’t ask for, or worse: put your number at risk of being leaked in a data breach.

The good news is that you can avoid sharing your real number for many online signups, while still providing the data that the service asks for to verify your account. The solution is to use a temporary non-VoIP number.

What are Temporary Non-VoIP Numbers?

Temporary non-VoIP numbers are real phone numbers offered by providers like SMSPool. They aren’t tied to an internet-based service, meaning that, unlike VoIP numbers, they behave like standard mobile or landline numbers. Because of this, they’re less likely to be blocked by apps that check for fake numbers.

You can use temporary numbers however you want, but they’re most commonly used to receive verification codes and confirm accounts without sharing a personal number.

How to Get a Temporary Number

A few different online providers offer temporary non-VoIP numbers, and how much they cost and how long you’ll have access to them can vary. Generally, you can expect to pay less than $1 for a number that you can use for 20-60 minutes.

Some providers let you rent a number for days or even months, but you’re unlikely to need a number for that long if you just want one for one-off signups. You can choose a number in your region, so it should work with no issues for account verification and messaging.

The Process of Using a Temporary Number for Online Signups

You can use a temporary number when you’re signing up for pretty much any online service, whether you want to take advantage of a free trial or access a members-only deal on a shopping website. Whenever you need to verify your identity but don’t want your personal number to receive repeated marketing messages, you can use a temporary number instead.

There are a couple of caveats, though. First, since temporary numbers are usually only available for an hour at the most, you can’t use one to create an account that requires the same number for two-factor authentication every time you log in. Plus, when you’re creating an account where your real number is important for security purposes, such as for online banking, you shouldn’t use a temporary number.

The best use of temporary numbers is for creating accounts that you only plan to access once (such as for a limited-time deal), where you want the benefits of signing up without the privacy concerns that come with putting your real number online.