Safe online dating: keeping your phone numbers private

November 27th, 2008

When you’ve met someone online who seems normal, it stands to reason that you’ll want to speak to them on the phone sooner or later. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want just any person to have my mobile number and I sure wouldn’t want him to have my landline number unless I had good reason to believe he wasn’t a freak.

To get around this, some people use voice or camera chat on things like Skype and MSN messenger to get to know their potential dates better before meeting up. Gmail (Google mail) has recently added video/voice capabilities too and there are plenty more services that do that.

Many people would still rather be able to call you while away from their computer or may wonder why you are refusing to speak to them on the phone. Because of this, I’ve known people to get a special phone or a special sim card just for online dating. Most networks now offer free pay as you go sims, which can be handy, especially if you have an old spare phone somewhere. If you don’t, remembering to swap sims round can be quite annoying.

Luckily, Skype have a really clever feature that lets you buy your own Skype phone number (SkypeIn) that acts like a normal phone number. People can phone that number (which looks like a normal local phone number) and the call is then routed to your Skype as usual. You can get this number free when you take up a Skype subscription and you can also use it to call people from Skype. The number will display on the person’s phone in the same way a normal number does. You can also get stuff like Skype cordless phones and even a Skype mobile, so you don’t have to be tied to the PC either. You can also get calls forwarded on to your phone.

If you’re not comfortable with giving people your real phone number, this is a handy way around it. It’s much easier to change a Skype number than a real number!

You can find out more about how this works and sign up by clicking here.

Related posts:

1. Mobile phone dating
2. Online dating and the credit crunch
3. How to increase your online dating chances and save money
4. There’s no room for wall flowers in online dating
5. Is running a search on someone you met online a good idea?

Entry Filed under: Online Dating Tips