Pros & Cons of a Virtual Phone Number

Confidentiality of your phone number when registering online is very important to prevent possible misuse of personal information. Disclosing your phone number can lead to unwanted calls, spam, phishing and even personal data leakage. In addition, cybercriminals can use obtained phone numbers to confirm access to accounts and commit fraud. Therefore, ensuring phone number anonymity helps to maintain personal safety and prevent unwanted consequences in the virtual space. Thus, for registrations and receive SMS over the Internet, the best solution is to use a virtual phone number.

What is it & Why Do I Need It?

A virtual number is a phone number that is not tied to a real SIM card or a real communication device. In addition, you don’t even need to have a physical phone to use it, it can be a tablet, laptop or PC. Such phone numbers are created so that users can use them for registration and authorization in various messengers, social networks and other online services.

You can get a virtual phone number through special online services that are engaged in the creation and distribution of this service. Such services work with different mobile operators, so if you are interested in a particular one, you can choose a suitable option from the proposed wide list.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Virtual Phone Number

Virtual phone numbers are popular primarily because of their convenience and privacy protection.However, this is not all of their advantages, and they also include:

  • Privacy and security. Yes, virtual phone numbers are used by many, primarily to protect their personal information from being shared.It’s no secret that information published in any, even the most secure, online service is instantly spread all over the internet. Hence the endless spam calls, scammers, and many other troubles. That’s why some people prefer to buy a virtual number to use it to register in various services, leaving their real phone number hidden.
  • Convenience for multi-accounts. If you need multiple accounts in some web service, it can be advantageous to use a virtual number for each of them. It helps, firstly, to avoid tying up and buying multiple real SIM cards, and will also make it much easier to manage each of the accounts.
  • Accessibility and bypassing restrictions. If, for example, you live in a country or region where the desired service is blocked, a virtual phone number can be a salvation for you and help you get free access to the application.Many services allow you to purchase virtual numbers of different countries, so you can easily choose the option that is relevant to your problem.
  • Significant savings. Virtual number will cost you much cheaper than connecting a new phone number or using roaming.

But this is certainly not all, also this tool and a list of disadvantages that should be considered before buying:

  • Limited use. To avoid fraud, many services try to limit the use of virtual numbers within their applications. Therefore, many services today try to circumvent these restrictions by offering to buy numbers that are suitable, for example, only for registration, or limited to certain telecom operators. Hence the significant narrowing of opportunities for using such a tool.
  • Low level of stability. It is not hard to guess that virtual phone numbers are much less stable in comparison with real ones.They can be blocked after several registrations in one or different applications.
  • High risk of fraud. Many online services today provide users with unreliable virtual numbers. And this involves the risk of fraud, leakage of confidential information and many other problems. Therefore, try to choose only trusted virtual number providers.