I wanted to share my experience using Surfshark’s new Alternative Number service. It’s new, and I haven’t seen many reviews of it online yet, so I thought I’d add my two cents to the conversation.
It’s a virtual US-based phone number you can access through the Surfshark VPN app. It’s like a burner phone – gives you an alternative phone number that helps protect your real one.
I’m pretty paranoid about privacy online, and the increasing number of spam calls and messages I was getting was driving me nuts. Plus, I didn’t like giving my real phone number to random websites that I wasn’t sure I could trust. As I already had a subscription to Surfshark, I decided to give this a shot on top of that.
My experience and thoughts so far:
Setup: setting it up was straightforward. You just go through the Surfshark app, and they will give you a virtual US-based number. Nothing complicated to be aware of.
Protection from spam: It feels good to know that now I can protect my real phone number from floating around on untrusted websites. This will be useful whenever I’m skeptical about a certain site. Hopefully, the number of spam calls and messages on my real phone will decrease.
Cost: The cost varies depending on how long you’ve been subscribed, ranging from $4.99 to $2.99 per month before taxes. Yes, it’s paid, but in my opinion, it’s a small price for the added security layer.
Limitations: The main downside is that it’s only available for US-based numbers. I hope Surfshark rolls out more location options soon because that would make this service even more versatile.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with Surfshark’s Alternative Number so far. It’s in the very early stage, but it’s worth considering if you’re like me and value your privacy (and sanity from avoiding spam).
I signed up the other day and agree with all you said. 1 drawback is you can’t get sms verification codes which means you still need to use your number……or so I thought. I found a neat site/app called SMSPool where for under a dollar an order you can get a number to use one time for SMS verification. You can also rent a number for longer periods if you need. https://www.smspool.net/
Since the OP didn’t respond to my earlier message, I decided to sign up and try it out for myself.
You can’t pick your area code. I ended up with one from Wichita, KS which is nowhere near me on the east coast. Do area codes matter in 2024? Not really. Unless you are giving that number out in person, and then you get the “Where’s that area code from” questions. For online stuff, it should be fine.
You also can’t originate anything from that number. You can respond to text when they come in, but you can’t create them. You also can’t dial out from it.
Had my previous post deleted by mod. It seems mentioning other/better products than what Surfshark offers is against thread rules…glad to see free speech is alive and well. Simply put there are other voip products out there that are cheaper and better than what SS offers
Your post/comment has been removed because it violates our subreddit rule “Stick to the topic”.
In order to maintain a focused discussion, please ensure that topics are related to Surfshark or privacy/cybersecurity. It seems like you veered off-topic by promoting our competitors.
To keep the Surfshark vibes strong and ensure we’re all riding the same wave, here’s a quick tip: when posting or commenting, let’s keep the conversation centered around Surfshark and topics directly related to it.