Temporary phone numbers become popular service

Service providers have been working for years to enable consumers to have one phone number, developing services such as number portability, call forwarding and find-me, follow-me options. Voice-over-IP providers are now making money by enabling consumers to have temporary, almost throwaway, phone numbers.

The idea is to assign a number to a consumer for short-term use in things such as classified ads, dating services, transactions or other dealings for which people may not want to give out a cell phone, office or business number.

“This way, a customer can publish a number and direct it to a voice mailbox or another location,” said Myrle McNeal, senior vice president of local services for Level 3 Communications. “They don't have to disclose their phone numbers to participate in social networking.”

At VON last week, Level 3 announced that its Wholesale Markets Group had deployed a VoIP solution for Lavalife, a provider of services and products for singles. The solution combines Level 3's Local Inbound Service, Toll Free Service, International Termination Service, Co-location Service and Level 3 High-Speed IP service.

RNK Communications-a wholesale VoIP provider based near Boston that is expanding its coverage from New England to the Atlantic seaboard, California, Illinois, and Texas this year — also has developed service, called My Temp Number, which assigns temporary numbers at low cost.

“We are partnering with newspapers, online classified companies and others,” said Kevin Rohnstrom, senior vice president of new product development for RNK. “We provide temporary phone numbers at low cost, and customers keep them for as long as needed. The idea is to do it for small dollars and large volumes.”

RNK also has developed a product, so new it's as-yet unnamed, that lets customers point their home phone number at any device. That service is aimed at people who move and want to retain their former phone number for a period of time.

“In the regulated TDM world, this wasn't possible,” Rohnstrom said. “But now you can move and take your number with you.”