They Asked for My Cell Number. I Don’t Have One.

Everywhere we go, people want our phone number. Restaurants want our number. Websites want our number. And it's become normal for us to just hand it over without thinking. What do you do in a situation where you don't want them to have your number? Where you don't think it's necessary? [music] Or what if you don't have a cell number? Come on, Naomi. Who doesn't have a cell number? Actually, I don't have a cell number. Oh my god. >> [screaming] >> I don't have a SIM in my phone, and I rely entirely on VoIP numbers. And just recently, I went to a website to set up a new account, and it wouldn't let me proceed without giving them a cell number. Not a VoIP number. It demanded a real cell number associated with a SIM. What should someone do in a situation like this? Now, I know I'm an anomaly here. Most people do have a cell number, but there are plenty of reasons someone might decide that they don't want to have hand out their cell number to everyone. In this video, I'll explain what you can do if someone asks for your cell number and you don't want to give it to them. We'll talk about VoIP alternatives and different [music] methods for keeping your data protected. Let's start by understanding why someone might not want to give out their cell number. First, it becomes a unique identifier that links all of our activities and accounts together. If we give the same cell number to everyone, merchants, restaurants, schools, every company we interact with, every government agency, medical providers, every friend and colleague who then shares their contact list with countless apps, it lets all of those separate interactions be correlated. Why does that matter? First of all, almost every service that you use shares data about you. And now, data brokers can see everything that you're doing and [music] stitch together all of these facets of your life into a single profile. Governments buy this data, too. [music] So, now governments can easily link everywhere you shop, every cause you support, every website you sign up for, and all this information invariably makes its way to the dark web. Your phone number becomes an easy tool that hackers can use to find out which platforms you use and build an intimate picture of your life that they can exploit via identity theft or other nefarious activities. Another reason that someone might not want to give away their cell number is because cell numbers reveal your location in a way that VoIP numbers don't. When your phone is powered on and connected, the cellular network has to track which cell area is reachable through so that it can route calls and texts. That information lives in databases like the home location register or its modern equivalents. And the network also generates cell site location information like tower connection logs, which basically add up to a timestamped trail of everywhere your phone has been. And telco providers are notorious for selling this location data. If someone knows your cell number, they can find out where you are. Unlike cell numbers, VoIP numbers don't actually get logged in the HLR because they're not tied to a physical SIM card or the cellular network infrastructure. So, it's much safer to give someone a VoIP number than a cell number if you don't want them using the number to find your location. Now that we understand some of the reasons why we might not want to give out our cell number, let's go over a bunch of scenarios where we might be asked for this number and how we can respond. Let's start with my favorite line that I use when it's a person who asks. That line is, "I don't currently have a working number." Quite often, I'll be asked for a number and I know it's not necessary like a storekeeper wants to put it in their system or a restaurant insists on taking the number even though they're about to seat you. If you refuse or say, "I don't have a number." people often don't believe you or they get hostile. Can I grab your phone number? I don't have one. You don't have a phone? That's right. >> Well, I need a phone to put in our system. If you say, "I don't currently have a working number." it sounds like your phone broke or you're between plans. It gives them a socially acceptable reason to move on. If you're polite and even a little apologetic, they often wave the requirement without any friction. Can I get a phone number? Actually, I currently don't have a working number. I'm sorry. Oh. Yeah, I need to get it fixed. I'll just put in a dummy number for now and then you can update it later. Okay, thanks. What if you're dealing with a business online and there's no person to reason with? In that situation, if you're forced to enter a number, I suggest [music] you give them a VoIP number. To whoever's contacting you, a VoIP number behaves just like [music] a normal phone number, but it's tied to an internet-based service and app, not your phone's cellular connection to nearby towers. There are lots of services that allow you to purchase VoIP numbers. For important accounts, I recommend MySudo, and you can get up to nine VoIP numbers per account. This app allows you to make and receive calls and send and receive SMSs just like a normal cell number. GrapheneOS users may have trouble getting calls in real time, but can receive voicemail and messages fine and make calls without a problem. The great thing about these numbers is that you just pay the monthly number rental, which is currently $15 for nine numbers, and all texts and [music] calls are free. I use these nine numbers for important accounts and have different numbers for different purposes. One number I use for shopping, another for medical, another for work colleagues, etc. If you want to generate a new number for every service you use, you can get hundreds of VoIP numbers using cloaked.com. I do this for all burner accounts, like restaurant reservations, one-time purchases, etc. If you don't have activity on these numbers for a prolonged period, they go back into rotation, which makes them great [music] for single use. VoIP numbers will almost always work, but there are some entities that don't accept them. Let's go over what to do in those situations. If you're using the number for something that's not important, you might consider a temporary number rental service. sms-pool.net is one option that you can use. You deposit money in your account and can rent a number cheaply just to receive a one-time code. You can also pay in cryptocurrency, including many privacy coins, which is super convenient. Some platforms [music] might require a cell number when you first register your account, but you can go into your settings afterwards and change the number to anything, including VoIP, and it will be accepted. If that's the case, you can rent a temporary number just up and then go into your new account and switch the number out. Be careful here, though. Some services ask for a number at sign up and then use that number as 2FA and demand SMS verification every time you sign in. This means that if you lose access to the number you signed up with, you will lose access to your account. For such platforms, you don't want to use a temporary number. A good practice is actually to rent a number for at least an hour instead of just one-time use. This gives you a little more time to see if this account is going to require this number for ongoing identification each time you use the account, and whether you'll be blocked from the account if you lose access to your number. If you do require ongoing use of a number, you can always rent a number long-term, like for months at a time, but that can get pricey. You're better off with a more permanent solution. So, let's talk other options. If you need to provide a SIM-based number on an ongoing basis, you can buy a prepaid SIM. [music] Just make sure that you maintain access to it. That means keeping it active so that you don't lose the number. And being sure to top it up when needed. You can consider using a service like Bitrefill [music] to keep your prepaid SIM topped up, where you can also pay with cryptocurrency. [music] This way, whenever a company insists on a real cell number, you have one, but it's not the same number that you use for everything else. And it's one that you rarely use. Now, there is a trick that you might consider, which involves turning your cell number into a VoIP number. But before we dive into that, I want to talk about why some services reject VoIP numbers in the first place. This usually happens for one of two reasons. First is for KYC reasons. Often platforms will block VoIP, not because of any technical limitations, but because SIM based numbers are generally better for KYC'ing someone or finding out their real identity. Because they're using the number as an identity check, when you enter your number, they'll check whether the number is classified as a cell number or a VoIP number. And if it's VoIP, they simply block you from using it, and they demand a real number. They just don't like VoIP. The second reason a platform might block your VoIP number is out of fear of compatibility issues. From the outside, VoIP numbers and cell numbers often seem interchangeable. But behind the scenes, texting is not one single delivery system. There are different [music] pathways that messages can travel through, depending on who's sending the message and what kind of number is receiving [music] it. The pathways that are available for a certain number are determined when the number is first set up and configured. [music] The provider that issues the number decides which features are enabled for that number, and which message routes are allowed for that number type. Most everyday carrier texts between [music] two people use SMS, MMS, or RCS when both phones support [music] it. But some automated messages, like marketing texts and verification texts, [music] come from short codes, which are those five or six-digit phone numbers businesses use [music] to text people at scale. Messages sent from short codes are usually A2P, which means application to person. In other words, it's an automated [music] system texting you, not a human. Carriers handle automated messages sent from short codes differently [music] to normal person-to-person texts, and not every number type is allowed to receive them. Some numbers simply weren't provisioned to receive [music] messages sent from short codes. So, your VoIP number might receive regular texts just fine, >> [music] >> but still fail when a website tries to send a verification code. When you sign up for a service and it rejects your number because it's VoIP, that doesn't necessarily mean that your VoIP number can't receive short code messages. It usually means that the platform blocks VoIP numbers across the board because some VoIP numbers don't reliably receive certain automated messages, especially short codes. Rather than deal with inconsistent delivery and support tickets, they take the blunt approach and ban VoIP entirely out of fear of compatibility issues. So, now let's talk about a workaround for this, namely the cell-to-VoIP trick. We already mentioned that you can sometimes register with one number and then change the number on file after you're in. But some companies also check any new number that you try to add later. So, swapping in a VoIP number might still get blocked. So, here's an alternative. Use a prepaid SIM number to sign up, since it's a normal mobile number is more likely to pass the initial [music] check. Then, after the account is created, you can try porting that same number to a VoIP [music] provider. Porting just means moving a phone number from one provider to another. Just like you can port a number between cell carriers, you can port a cell number to a VoIP provider like MySudo, which effectively turns it into a VoIP number. And because some platforms only check numbers at the moment you add them, they may not recheck the number that was already approved. You'll still have access to the same number, but now it's cheaper to maintain. And because it's no longer a cellular subscription, it won't [music] generate cellular carrier location records or be tracked in databases like the HLR. But there's a caveat. As [music] mentioned, some VoIP numbers can't receive short code messages. So, after a number becomes VoIP, you may stop [music] receiving some verification codes. This is something that you have to test. [music] You don't want to be stuck unable to receive verification codes when you need to log in. In my experience, I almost always am able to receive messages from short codes. Occasionally, I can't get a verification code, but they give me a call option instead, which works just as well. And for the rare instances where a number can't receive short code messages, you can keep a prepaid SIM handy for that specific account. Data collection today is normalized and invasive. Everyone wants your home address, your phone number, your social accounts, every identifier that makes it easier to map your life and monetize it. In the digital era, just type your number is treated like a harmless formality. But it's not harmless. It creates an extra thread that could be used to track you, profile you, or exploit you. Stop handing out your real cell number by default. Use the alternatives when you can. Make minimal disclosure the norm. Small changes like this reduce your exposure, and they remind companies that access to you isn't a right. It's something that you get to choose. The Ludlow Institute is a non-profit research and media institute that helps people reclaim their privacy in the digital world. If you'd like to support our work, visit ludlowinstitute.org/donate. And a huge thank you to everyone who already supports us. We couldn't make these videos without you. Your support keeps this channel free and helps more people get the tools and knowledge that they need.