Hide Behind Vumber's Phone Numbers
Corrected on 1/29/08: An earlier version of this blog post said making Vumber calls requires pushing 20 buttons, including a security code. When calling from certain phones, the security code is not necessarily required.
Dating these days can be a scary process, from what this married man reads. Those psycho stalker dates make the most dramatic case for throwaway phone numbers now available from a couple of services, including one that officially launched this week called Vumber.
The numbers also have strong appeal to us nondaters. They can add a layer of privacy when, for example, selling something through a classified ad.
Vumber gives you a number that will ring whatever landline or cellphone you choose. The monthly $5 charge (which will be going to $10 sometime later) includes voicemail and the ability to change numbers. The first three changes come free of charge, and later switches each cost $2.
Especially cool: You can use the same number to make calls. Recipients don't see your real number on their caller ID.
The company originally expected the numbers to be temporary. But it turns out that in beta testing, the numbers have proved sticky with users, says CEO Cliff Wener: "Unless you've got somebody stalking you, you're going to keep the number."
On the downside, making calls can mean pushing at least 20 buttons—your "vumber" and then the number you're calling, plus a security code. And there's no way to cut off just the creeps. You have to change your vumber and alert everyone you gave it to.
But Vumber works as advertised. It's easy protection for when you're selling something in an ad—especially if that something is you.
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Reader Comments
Contributing to home invasion and acts of terrorism
Although the hiding of phone numbers may seem a benefit, it is anything but. Rather, it is a tool created for acts of terrorism and home invasion by marketers whereby the prey actually has to pay for the invasion.
It is time that we find these companies who produce these programs and put them into detention centers to awit execution at the earliest date for crimes against the American people. This may appear to be slightly hard; but, the world of spam, the use of obtaining real phone numbers, the use of gaining info about you at your expense is running rampid. The users have no morals, and the companies who sell these covert attacks against America assume total responsibility
throw away numbers..
This will make caller ID meaningless.. stalkers and phone nuts will have a field day.. phone scammers are doing cart wheels. But if you have to have one Google has a service in Beta that is free.
http://www.grandcentral.com/
Not the same as Grandcentral
I don't see how the above comments are relevant. The vast majority of telemarketers just block their numbers anyway. Vumber has a feature wherein you can block all unknown phone numbers from even ringing your phone. That feature alone is worth $5/month. You can also set up the vumber with a whitelist, so only certain numbers will make the phone ring. All these features SHOULD be standard in cellphones, but aren't.
Grandcentral is not the same thing, as it just gives you a number that will ring a whole bunch of phones. You can't "hide behind it."
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