Looking to trial a new streaming service but don’t want to use your own number until you’re ready to commit? Many streaming platforms let you create an account and use their service for free for a set period of time—but things can get complicated if they require you to enter your phone number for account verification purposes.
What if you’ve already used your number to trial this exact service before? Or what if you just don’t want to subject yourself to the inevitable marketing messages that come from taking advantage of a free trial? Or how about if you just want to limit how often you’re sharing your number online for data security reasons?
Thankfully, there’s a solution that doesn’t involve sharing your real number: using a non-VoIP number for account verification processes. Here’s exactly how it works.
What Are Non-VoIP Numbers?
Non-VoIP numbers are essentially phone numbers that are connected directly to a SIM card, which means they’re linked to a geographical location (and therefore an area code). Your own phone number is presumably connected to a SIM, which makes it non-VoIP.
You can buy a non-VoIP number for temporary use from a site like https://www.smspool.net/. These sites offer a variety of numbers that are linked to different locations, so you could buy a US-based number if that’s where you live.
How You Can Use Non-VoIP Numbers For Signing Up to Streaming Services
Let’s say you decide to buy a non-VoIP number for temporary use from a site like SMSPool. What next?
You’ll usually have access to this number for up to an hour, sometimes less, depending on the service. Within this period, you can use the number to create an account for your streaming service of choice, verify your identity by receiving an SMS code, and complete the signup process.
Just enter the number you’ve been given into the “phone number” field and then wait for the code to come through online. You can then enter the code to verify that the number you’ve provided is real, and log in.
When Non-VoIP Numbers Are (And Aren’t Helpful)
You’ll benefit from using a non-VoIP number in these specific circumstances:
- You want to take advantage of a free trial for a streaming service and…
- … You don’t want to share your personal data for one-time use, or…
- … You’ve already used your number for a free trial in the past, and can’t use it again.
A non-VoIP number probably won’t be best if:
- You’ve progressed beyond the free trial stage and need to use the same phone number to verify your account (for example, if the service requires two-factor authentication with email and phone).
Takeaway
So, there you have it: you don’t have to use your real phone number to create an account for a streaming service, especially if you only plan to do the free trial.
Hopefully, this article helped you to understand the simplest alternative, so you can sign up with no effort and without sacrificing your own personal data.