
Show HN: Call Me Private Virtual Number Service - mattbgates
https://callmeprivate.com/
======
mattbgates
Hi HN, it is an honor to present to you a tool that I've been developing for a
few months now. Call Me Private
([https://callmeprivate.com](https://callmeprivate.com)) allows you mask your
real phone numbers behind virtual numbers for better privacy. You can make and
receive calls with local numbers from around the United States and Canada. You
may also purchase toll-free numbers if you are in the U.S. and Canada, a must-
have for entrepreneurs, startups, and all businesses.

Just some great features you can do with your virtual number:

* forward incoming calls to a specific number

* record incoming and outgoing calls

* turn your number into a conference room

* turn your number into a message-only system (text or audio mp3/wav)

* turn your number into a voicemail-only system w/email and text option

* block individual callers

* block all callers

There are no contracts, setup fees, or cancellation fees.

Looking for a SMS-0nly virtual number?
[https://textmeprivate.com](https://textmeprivate.com)

For Hacker News only! Enter in coupon code HACKERNEWS and get 25% off all
virtual numbers purchased for your first month!

~~~
snowpanda
This is awesome, does it support international text?

Oops, found the answer myself, yes it does. Unfortunately not the country I
was interested in though :(

~~~
mattbgates
snowpanda, while the Call Me Private
([https://callmeprivate.com](https://callmeprivate.com)) may not be available
in your country, there is Text Me Private
([https://textmeprivate.com](https://textmeprivate.com)) which offers virtual
numbers that allow you to send and receive text messages, which are available
in most countries.

------
FLUX-YOU
I'm sure there's legit personal uses, but to me this seems like a tool for
spam.

I'm guilty of answering local area code numbers in higher frequency than non-
local area codes. And I imagine someone else knows about that.

~~~
criddell
Why is the phone-spam problem so hard to fix?

I get far more spam calls than non-spam calls. I wish my phone had a setting
to ring only for callers in my address book and then give a busy signal to all
other callers.

~~~
jeffmould
On Android (at least with Samsung Galaxy 6+) you can put your phone into do
not disturb mode (settings, sounds & vibrations, do not disturb), then set up
Custom Exceptions to allow calls and texts from Contacts Only.

I believe you can also do the above on an iPhone, but not 100% positive. My GF
has it setup and I'll have to ask her how she did it.

As an added measure, under phone settings, you can block calls from unknown
callers as well.

------
maddyboo
It's hard to tell from the site, but something useful for our business is the
ability to have several distinct numbers for different purposes which can be
routed to a single number.

Essentially, we have a "parent" company which has several different products
which are all independently branded. When a customer calls a support number
for one of our products, we want to have that call routed to one of our cell
phones or office phones and then be able to tell what product that call was
about so we can greet the customer properly. I know that there are existing
solutions out there for this already, though.

~~~
mattbgates
You can verify as many numbers as you want, purchase as many toll-free numbers
as you want, and redirect them to ANY verified number on your phone list.

You can have 10 toll-free numbers all going to one number, or you can have 10
toll-free numbers going to 10 different numbers. Completely up to you.

The ability to record your calls is there too, so you could know what your
employees are saying, and go into your logs to check out who is calling who,
and listen to the conversation.

It is a work in progress to tell exactly which virtual number is calling you,
which at the moment, is distinguished from the logs.

------
CodeWriter23
@mattbgates: when someone calls me, what phone number do I see via caller id?
Theirs? Mine? Constant that your code chooses? Or random from your outgoing
pool? I ask because I only answer if a known number is calling.

~~~
mattbgates
They will be calling your virtual number. You will see their caller id number.
You won't see your virtual number calling you.

If you ever want to see who called a specific virtual number of yours, you
would go to your Dashboard and check the logs.

~~~
CodeWriter23
Cool, you got that subtle implementation detail right. Other similar services
I’ve tried got it wrong.

~~~
mattbgates
Working on a feature that will actually text you the caller number + virtual
number. In case you have multiple virtual numbers, you'll at least know who is
calling.

------
notheguyouthink
Some of the "buttons" (not sure if they are?) on the home page under "Make
your phone private today!" do not work for me.

Conferencing, Messaging, and Voicemail do nothing when clicked. Safari & OSX
10.13.1

~~~
mattbgates
Hey notheguyyouthink, those are just "tabbed" buttons to show you the
features. Purely aesthetic and just a button for "sign up".

~~~
sopooneo
It's a cool product. And props for making it happen.

I would second the parent comment though in thinking you might be able to
improve the user experience if everything that seems clickable actually is. It
might take a little css tweaking only.

Regardless, this seems technically quite impressive.

~~~
mattbgates
Thank you sopooneo, I'll see what I can do to make those look not so
clickable! Though actually clicking them.. should take you to the registration
page. Some browsers .. it works, some it doesn't.. I've seen that!

~~~
notyourwork
For me only forwarding and recording option renders an actual anchor that is
clickable: [https://pastebin.com/fk4dtjfx](https://pastebin.com/fk4dtjfx)

This would explain why some are clickable and some are not.

~~~
mattbgates
All fixed, thank you guys!

------
mosselman
What kind of service is this built on? How can you/they offer unlimited
numbers for 1 price? Or am I understanding some of the print incorrectly?

~~~
mattbgates
Hey mosselman, it was built using PHP. And it is basically a pay-for-what-you-
use service, based on month-to-month cost basis.

~~~
mosselman
Hi, thank you for your answer. I didn't mean the language though, I meant the
underlying service provider for the phone numbers, etc. Something like Twilio?

~~~
mattbgates
Yes, similar service provider to Twilio.

------
stamps
I wonder if it's more secure than a cellular company against social
engineering.

This seems like a good way to protect having your phone number hijacked for
2FA.

------
antihero
Does anyone know what sort of data services like Twilio collect - do they log
message contents or just who's messaging who?

~~~
notyourwork
I think unless proven otherwise it would be reasonable to assume everything.

~~~
mattbgates
Safe to assume everything.

However:

When using Text Me Private
([https://textmeprivate.com](https://textmeprivate.com)), there is no way for
me (or staff) to see or read your text messages. I did write the ability for
you to log your own text messages so YOU can see them in the log, however,
this was never written so I (or staff) could view them. They are also
encrypted so they can never actually be read from my end.

When using Call Me Private
([https://callmeprivate.com](https://callmeprivate.com)), there is no way for
me (or staff) to listen to your conversations, not even when you turn the
record feature on, or for us to see who you called or who called you, nor do
we have any interest in doing so. The whole platform was created to try and
give everyone a chance at privacy with virtual numbers.

If you want to know, the only information recorded for business purposes on
our end: virtual number | duration of the call | cost of the call

Whatever data you have between you and your friends or family or anyone else
is none of my business nor the business of my company. We act as the service
provider to give you a virtual number. We're not Google... we're not
Facebook... we really don't care what you do in your own time, who you are
talking to, who is talking to you, or what you do with your virtual numbers.
No offense.. I mean, it's just really none of my business or the business of
my company to know your business, other than the fact that... yay, you
purchased a virtual number and you are using it.

There are a few spam measures in place to detect certain actions of numbers,
and this is to try and curtail abuse of our service, for which it may flag
your account.

~~~
antihero
Can you use and provision text me private via an API like Twilio? I'm building
a service where fairly sensitive messages will be exchanged.

~~~
libertyEQ
First of all, all text messages are in-the-clear (at least for the service
provider). Second, this seems to be a service that is targeted to end-users
and itself uses the API of one of the big "cloud telecom" providers.

If you want API access, I would suggest bandwidth.com, Plivo, or, Twilio.

------
UseStrict
Cool, this looks like a nice app-free alternative to Hushed. I like the
corporate toll-free number support, definitely will be nice when I finally get
my business off the ground.

~~~
mattbgates
UseStrict, interesting enough: I use Call Me Private
([https://callmeprivate.com](https://callmeprivate.com)) and Text Me Private
([https://textmeprivate.com](https://textmeprivate.com)) with Hushed.

I am no longer using my primary phone number.

I receive calls to my virtual number which forward them to my Hushed number.

I also make calls from my Hushed number to my virtual number in order to make
outbound calls.

I am in talks of a partnership with them because they work very well together
-- of basically going "off the grid" \-- no longer having to use an actual
phone number from a phone service provider.

For those who love and are advocates about their privacy, the idea is that you
would buy a mobile hotspot and connect to that with an iPhone or Android so
you have the Hushed app. They provide you with a phone number. Upon purchasing
a virtual number from my system, you now get to keep your Hushed phone number
private and use the Call Me Private virtual number service, which are more
easily disposable.

Sounds crazy, but you would be virtually be untraceable to any phone service
provider in regards to actually using a phone number "on the grid".

