Hi HN, it is an honor to present to you a tool that I've been developing for a few months now. Call Me Private (https://callmeprivate.com) allows you mask your real phone numbers behind virtual numbers for better privacy. You can make and receive calls with local numbers from around the United States and Canada. You may also purchase toll-free numbers if you are in the U.S. and Canada, a must-have for entrepreneurs, startups, and all businesses.
Just some great features you can do with your virtual number:
* forward incoming calls to a specific number
* record incoming and outgoing calls
* turn your number into a conference room
* turn your number into a message-only system (text or audio mp3/wav)
* turn your number into a voicemail-only system w/email and text option
* block individual callers
* block all callers
There are no contracts, setup fees, or cancellation fees.
By releasing this, I definitely could see the potential for abuse of a service like this. And I've incorporated a few scripts to check for specific types of abuse. It is something I'm still actively working on to prevent, but cannot fully predict every factor that might come into play.
I was working on a script to make it so that you could call the number back and block it permanently.
If I was a celebrity, I could see this being huge. I could only give out my virtual number even to friends and family. And then I could have my virtual number leaked but it wouldn't matter, bc I only whitelist my friends and family on that number (if I'm understanding this product correctly)
Due to the spam and my move across the country I never answer numbers matching my area code and only answer calls from my contact list or from random area codes I am unfamiliar with.
If a number is like xyz--* where xyz is my area code odds are its not legit.
I get far more spam calls than non-spam calls. I wish my phone had a setting to ring only for callers in my address book and then give a busy signal to all other callers.
yea there was a change in law that allowed spammers to use your local area code for this precise reason. Not sure if you noticed, all spam calls lately are from your area code.
It's hard to tell from the site, but something useful for our business is the ability to have several distinct numbers for different purposes which can be routed to a single number.
Essentially, we have a "parent" company which has several different products which are all independently branded. When a customer calls a support number for one of our products, we want to have that call routed to one of our cell phones or office phones and then be able to tell what product that call was about so we can greet the customer properly. I know that there are existing solutions out there for this already, though.
You can verify as many numbers as you want, purchase as many toll-free numbers as you want, and redirect them to ANY verified number on your phone list.
You can have 10 toll-free numbers all going to one number, or you can have 10 toll-free numbers going to 10 different numbers. Completely up to you.
The ability to record your calls is there too, so you could know what your employees are saying, and go into your logs to check out who is calling who, and listen to the conversation.
It is a work in progress to tell exactly which virtual number is calling you, which at the moment, is distinguished from the logs.
@mattbgates: when someone calls me, what phone number do I see via caller id? Theirs? Mine? Constant that your code chooses? Or random from your outgoing pool? I ask because I only answer if a known number is calling.
Cool, this looks like a nice app-free alternative to Hushed. I like the corporate toll-free number support, definitely will be nice when I finally get my business off the ground.
I receive calls to my virtual number which forward them to my Hushed number.
I also make calls from my Hushed number to my virtual number in order to make outbound calls.
I am in talks of a partnership with them because they work very well together -- of basically going "off the grid" -- no longer having to use an actual phone number from a phone service provider.
For those who love and are advocates about their privacy, the idea is that you would buy a mobile hotspot and connect to that with an iPhone or Android so you have the Hushed app. They provide you with a phone number. Upon purchasing a virtual number from my system, you now get to keep your Hushed phone number private and use the Call Me Private virtual number service, which are more easily disposable.
Sounds crazy, but you would be virtually be untraceable to any phone service provider in regards to actually using a phone number "on the grid".
[+] [-] mattbgates|8 years ago|reply
Just some great features you can do with your virtual number:
* forward incoming calls to a specific number
* record incoming and outgoing calls
* turn your number into a conference room
* turn your number into a message-only system (text or audio mp3/wav)
* turn your number into a voicemail-only system w/email and text option
* block individual callers
* block all callers
There are no contracts, setup fees, or cancellation fees.
Looking for a SMS-0nly virtual number? https://textmeprivate.com
For Hacker News only! Enter in coupon code HACKERNEWS and get 25% off all virtual numbers purchased for your first month!
[+] [-] snowpanda|8 years ago|reply
Oops, found the answer myself, yes it does. Unfortunately not the country I was interested in though :(
[+] [-] FLUX-YOU|8 years ago|reply
I'm guilty of answering local area code numbers in higher frequency than non-local area codes. And I imagine someone else knows about that.
[+] [-] nkrisc|8 years ago|reply
Spammers have rendered my phone useless for receiving calls from unknown numbers.
[+] [-] mattbgates|8 years ago|reply
You are certainly not wrong about that!
By releasing this, I definitely could see the potential for abuse of a service like this. And I've incorporated a few scripts to check for specific types of abuse. It is something I'm still actively working on to prevent, but cannot fully predict every factor that might come into play.
I was working on a script to make it so that you could call the number back and block it permanently.
[+] [-] omalleyt|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] notyourwork|8 years ago|reply
If a number is like xyz--* where xyz is my area code odds are its not legit.
[+] [-] criddell|8 years ago|reply
I get far more spam calls than non-spam calls. I wish my phone had a setting to ring only for callers in my address book and then give a busy signal to all other callers.
[+] [-] dominotw|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CodeWriter23|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maddyboo|8 years ago|reply
Essentially, we have a "parent" company which has several different products which are all independently branded. When a customer calls a support number for one of our products, we want to have that call routed to one of our cell phones or office phones and then be able to tell what product that call was about so we can greet the customer properly. I know that there are existing solutions out there for this already, though.
[+] [-] mattbgates|8 years ago|reply
You can have 10 toll-free numbers all going to one number, or you can have 10 toll-free numbers going to 10 different numbers. Completely up to you.
The ability to record your calls is there too, so you could know what your employees are saying, and go into your logs to check out who is calling who, and listen to the conversation.
It is a work in progress to tell exactly which virtual number is calling you, which at the moment, is distinguished from the logs.
[+] [-] CodeWriter23|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattbgates|8 years ago|reply
If you ever want to see who called a specific virtual number of yours, you would go to your Dashboard and check the logs.
[+] [-] notheguyouthink|8 years ago|reply
Conferencing, Messaging, and Voicemail do nothing when clicked. Safari & OSX 10.13.1
[+] [-] mattbgates|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mosselman|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattbgates|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stamps|8 years ago|reply
This seems like a good way to protect having your phone number hijacked for 2FA.
[+] [-] antihero|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] notyourwork|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] UseStrict|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattbgates|8 years ago|reply
I am no longer using my primary phone number.
I receive calls to my virtual number which forward them to my Hushed number.
I also make calls from my Hushed number to my virtual number in order to make outbound calls.
I am in talks of a partnership with them because they work very well together -- of basically going "off the grid" -- no longer having to use an actual phone number from a phone service provider.
For those who love and are advocates about their privacy, the idea is that you would buy a mobile hotspot and connect to that with an iPhone or Android so you have the Hushed app. They provide you with a phone number. Upon purchasing a virtual number from my system, you now get to keep your Hushed phone number private and use the Call Me Private virtual number service, which are more easily disposable.
Sounds crazy, but you would be virtually be untraceable to any phone service provider in regards to actually using a phone number "on the grid".