The thing about useful stuff is: Throwaway phone numbers

Throwaway phone numbers Tuesday, December 19, 2006

For a little while I had begun to think of my email address and mobile phone number as my permanent contact points.

So two diverging developments caused me to reflect.

Throwaway phone numbers - introduced courtesy of Craigsnumber (no connection to Craigslist, albeit evidently to be used in conjuction), you get auto allocated a number and specify the number to which it should be forwarded. You also specify how long the temporary number should operate. Presently only operating in the US, it allows the users to keep their real number anonymous when publishing something like a public advert and to use a temporary number instead.
A consolidating number - got too many numbers (home, work, voicemail, mobile). There are a number of similar services around but GrandCentral in the US is the only one I've found to date that is completely free.

The first has a life of as little as an hour and the latter enables you to carry the same number round for life. Transitory v Permanent identity.

posted by John Wilson @ 11:28 PM Permanent Link newsvine reddit