Is There A Way To Keep My Phone Number For Free On An Unlimited Calling And Texting Service

Screenshot of Google Voice app on a smartphone

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En español | You're selling an old burrow over Craigslist, and the person you're meeting asks for your mobile number to coordinate the exchange.

Or perhaps you lot see an advert promoting a vacation contest and the company wants you to text a code to be eligible to win. And while dipping your toe in a new "single seniors" app, your start date says to telephone call when you arrive at the coffee shop.

The problem: All iii of these scenarios require you to reveal your phone number.

What if the online classifieds guy turns out to be sketchy? Did entering that contest initiate a deluge of spammed messages and robocalls? Has your blind date turned out to be a creep and now he has your number?

For these reasons, giving out an alternative number is smarter, just in case.

Oftentimes called a "burner" number — something that can protect your privacy and is easily disposable if you want a different one downward the road — these are fifty-fifty more relevant during the coronavirus crisis. Curbside pickup at your home improvement store may require a number. Teachers working online during the pandemic might be asked to provide a number for concerned parents. People working from home likely want to requite out a unlike phone than their personal mobile number or home telephone.

You get the idea. These burner numbers that scammers can employ to shield themselves from detection too can shield you from revealing your personal phone number, one you tin can take with you even if you motility out of country, to anyone yous don't really know. The best part: Burner numbers, which you can go without buying a burner phone, are free.

TextNow available in U.S., Canada

TextNow. Bachelor for iPhone and Android devices, TextNow is an xi-year-old app that gives you a secondary number for incoming and outgoing calls and text messages. Information technology works on Mac and Windows computers and tablets, likewise.

TextNow app screenshot

TextNow

All calls and texts to and from the U.Southward. and Canada are free. International calls crave credits, which can be earned or purchased (and are very affordable). The get-go stride is to select a desired area code and number that's available.

If you install this app on your existing smartphone, yous'll notice the new ringtone is different from your main number. And yous tin can change the tune and vibration if you similar.

Also gratuitous are services such as call forwarding, caller ID, conference calls and voicemail. When it comes to messaging, TextNow supports emojis, gifs, photos, stickers and videos.

A bonus: If you don't take a smartphone, you tin can take a hand-me-down device from a friend or relative, reset it to factory specifications using instructions on TextNow's website and install this app to have a free phone number that volition work on Wi-Fi. If it was a Sprint telephone, information technology'south already uniform for free cellular service. If non, yous can buy a new SIM card to swap in from the visitor, a old fee, for $9.99.

Alternatively, TextNow too offers inexpensive phones and cellular plans that leverage the Sprint network. It can exist completely free to apply for calls and texts if you lot're willing to see advertisements, or $ix.99 a month for an AdFree+ call and text plan. In 2022, the average American spent $99 a month on a phone plan, up nearly $23 from five years before.

All plans have no contract and you may cancel your plan whenever you like without punishment or additional charges. Along with requiring a phone that'southward compatible with Sprint, be aware a program that includes data — then you can scan the Cyberspace — starts at an extra $ten a calendar month.

Google Vocalization can ring beyond all your devices

Google Voice.Another style to score a free secondary line is through Google Voice. Launched in 2009, it as well works on both smartphones and the spider web.

It allows you lot to place and receive calls and texts through a costless U.South.-based telephone number, chosen from available numbers in selected area codes. You will need a Google account, such as a Gmail address, to get going.

This one number synchronizes across your devices, so you can ever exist reached with your new number. Calls and texts are free within the U.South. and Canada, while international calls may be less than what your mobile carrier charges.

Google says spam is automatically filtered, plus y'all tin block numbers y'all don't want to hear from.

Like TextNow, Google Vocalization supports forwarding calls and voicemail. Don't like listening to voicemail? Google Voice provides voicemail transcription so you can read the text of the voicemail via the app or have it sent to your email. Plus, all calls, texts and voicemails are stored and backed upward to make information technology easy for you to search your history.

'Burner' phones inspire Burner app

Burner. As the name suggests, the nearly viii-year-quondam Burner app also lets you create a secondary, throwaway number on your smartphone.

Gratis to download and endeavor for a calendar week — additional time and numbers are available through in-app buy from $one.99 or a subscription for $4.99 a month — the app beginning has yous choose a phone number in available U.S. or Canadian area codes, such every bit 312 for Chicago or 650 for the San Francisco Bay area.

Calls and texts piece of work similar those to your main cellphone number, but they're routed through your fake phone number. The app likewise supports texting and moving-picture show messaging plus spam blocking.

Be aware telephone calls through your new number apply upwards your regular mobile phone minutes, and texts use your regular number's data.

Google Assistant on a smartphone

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Call incognito via smart speaker

Finally, you lot can make anonymous calls through your favorite Amazon or Google smart speaker. With Google Assistant, the recipient will come across only the words "private number" or "bearding" testify up on caller ID automatically; Amazon says Alexa's default is to show the phone number y'all registered on its app as your caller ID, merely you tin can change that in the Alexa app. (Anecdotally, my number shows upwardly as "Private" when I call someone through my smart speaker without changing the setting.)

Using your vocalization, y'all can dial any 10-digit number in the U.South. and Canada. With Amazon devices, you also tin can call Mexico and the U.k..

It uses the internet to brand calls, known equally vocalisation over cyberspace protocol (VoIP) technology, then no landline is needed. And it's completely free.

You lot have a few means to do it:

First, say the "wake word" — "Alexa" for Amazon devices, or "OK, Google" for Google Home speakers. Then say "call" or "punch" followed by the 10-digit number. If a person is among your smartphone's contacts, y'all tin can say "Telephone call John Smith," "Phone call Mary Jones" or "Call Dad," making sure that you lot utilise the name you've typed into contacts.

Or y'all can use a smart speaker to phone call a business, even if yous don't know the specific address, by saying something like "Call the Home Depot near Kickoff and Tertiary streets," and that will work, likewise. Be cautioned, though, that you may be unable to answer to voicemail prompts after y'all've reached the chief number.

Marc Saltzman has been a freelance technology journalist for 25 years. His podcast, Tech It Out, aims to suspension down geek speak into street speak.