What phone number do you give to casual/one-time contacts?

treenutz68

I've been using molly as my primary form of contact with my close friends/family who I've been able to convince to use signal (they are all on iOS) and legacy phone calls for the rest of them. So they have my primary SIM card linked phone number.

However, I am a bit hesitant to give my SIM based number to other people that I'll only deal with occasionally like my barber, lawncare guys, comcast, business vendors, etc... I just don't like the idea of my 'real' number floating around with so many people and also that some of the companies like comcast I'm sure will sell the information resulting in my getting more spam calls.

I recently switched phone numbers so have the chance to have a clean slate with this SIM card. I'd love to hear what people are doing on this front of segmenting numbers. I used to use google voice numbers on iPhone to achieve this segmentation but I don't have google play services on my graphene device and would prefer not to.

DeletedUser87

treenutz68 I have a second phone number, a prepaid, which I give out to the weirdos.

Onlyfun

what is

treenutz68 unclear question, what is a one-time contact? wouldnt giving a phone number propose to be contacted again? which means its more than ONE-time contact? mostly a regular number would be ok to give. i don't see a reason not to. if the contact is suspicious why even consider giving them your contact? if its a shady activity that requires communication but keeping as much privacy as possible use session messenger and email to share it, or as above stated already a signal with no phone number attached only a username

treenutz68

DeletedUser87

lol, I gotcha. So do you use a second sim card in your graphene device or you have a separate device for that second prepaid phone number?

NetRunner88

Give them a VoIP number from any provider

treenutz68

NetRunner88

Any voip options you like on graphene that play well without google play services and behind a vpn?

Velocity9490

For personal stuff: None. I tell them to contact me on Signal, and give them my user name.

I have a separate number for business affairs that's public anyway, so I don't mind giving that out. But it's SIP, so I don't have a SIM card linked to that number in my device. I also use the SIP system for call recording, which can be very useful for business stuff. I wouldn't want that for my personal calls though.

treenutz68

Velocity9490

I gotcha, do you use the SIP number on your graphene device? Or via pc/other?

Velocity9490

treenutz68 I use Linphone, which works on both mobile and desktop. I just followed the VOIP guide from Michael Bazzell's book "Extreme Privacy: What It Takes to Disappear"

It's paid, but I'm sure you'll be able to find a PDF for free on Anna's Archive

Here's a less detailed blog post: https://inteltechniques.com/blog/2024/02/27/leaving-twilio-for-voip-ms/

wonder75

treenutz68 You can get a VOIP number that just forwards to your real SIM number. No complicated networking needed to make it work. If you want to get rid of people who call you, you can blacklist them, so the calls will never reach you.

NetRunner88

treenutz68
I use Linphone client,
VPN permanently enabled.
No need google play service (Linphone has an option to have an always on notification to not miss any calls - this does not use too much battery from my point of perception)

To provide the service I have tested multiple things,
OVH (French and Belgian numbers available with multiple plans, the first one starting at 2€/month, I am not affiliated just giving my knowledge),
My own Asterisk instance,
Linphone service.

All three work okay. Without interruption or loss in quality.

DeletedUser87

treenutz68 I used to have it as an eSIM in my main (GOS phone), later I put it in a different phone since I rarely get any calls or SMS on that number.

Eagle_Owl

DeletedUser87 later I put it in a different phone since I rarely get any calls or SMS on that number.

And this has surely increased the standby time of your Pixel phone massively…

DeletedUser10

I just say no.. I f they are insistent like a shop, I just borrow a paper clip from them pop out the empty sim tray and state I don't use a phone number just WiFi. That normally confounds them, nobody to date has asked if I use eSims..

Eagle_Owl

wonder75
That's a great idea!

This is because VoIP apps require push notifications from Apple or Google to function properly, otherwise they either don't work at all or only occasionally and are completely unreliable.

And everything that supposedly works without push notifications has to run constantly in the background or even in the foreground to enable accessibility. This eats up so much battery that it is not suitable for mobile use, but only in the office on the power adapter, which would quickly age the smartphone's battery.

But it can be used purely for forwarding to an (e)SIM if you don't need to call back.

treenutz68

wonder75

Thanks, any recommendations on providers you like?

DeletedUser87

Eagle_Owl yup. I used to deactivate the SIM but then sometimes forgot to turn it on for a week or two and decided it would be best to just use a busted phone I don't use anymore for that task. Certainly has helped with battery life!

Velocity9490

Eagle_Owl Using airplane mode all/most of the time does the same

wonder75

treenutz68 Sorry no, I am not up to date with VOIP-services, but forwarding incoming calls from the PSTN to the PSTN should be a basic feature with most of them. Blacklisting numbers as well.

PaulDavis

treenutz68
You haven't stated what country you are in

treenutz68

PaulDavis

I'm in the US

treenutz68

Onlyfun

You are required to give a phone number to many places such as an ISP, businesses, etc... and what they do with that information is buried in a 100 page terms and conditions document. They require a working number to create an account and often use it as a way to authenticate you (perhaps by calling you back on that number or via 2fa codes).

So that is why "if the contact is suspicious why even consider giving them your contact?"

Onlyfun

treenutz68 oh i see, sorry i didn't think well when responded literally. that makes sense now, so its a group of contacts that are needed to communicate periodically but carry zero trust to them, right? what threat do you see from them? i see tracking, cant think of anything else, feel free to add your thoughts I'm sure I'm missing much here.

so to mitigate that threat so far i figured following solution, yet to implement it though. get a voip number that is dedicated for such communications in separate device, kept at a fixed location, mostly off. use as needed, preferably using an unrelated access point. or maybe even related access point, idk the pros and cons. i'd appreciate a knowledgeable addition to my comment in order

treenutz68

Velocity9490

Thanks, I think I'll give that a go and try with voip.ms

Did you have any issue signing up with them? I was gonna give it a shot behind a vpn but I know sometimes that can trigger some flags...