When Private Means Private

While visiting my family, I was surprised to find out that my future brother-in-law, who is a Real Estate Appraiser, gives out his home phone number to his clients. He told me how some people had left threatening messages on his answering machine because they weren't happy with his appraisal reports.

I suggested several services that for a low fee,  provide you with a suite of features like a toll free number, Internet faxing, voicemail, call forwarding and so on. Perfect for a small business owner. I've used these services in the past, and they have never dissapointed me.

Whether you're at a party meeting new people, selling an item on Craigslist, posting an online dating profile or working in a field that requires you to give out a phone number, the best thing to do is to keep your personal phone number private, and instead find a service that will offer an alternative virtual private number or voicemail service.

There are currently a few free services available to help you screen calls, and most importantly keep your real phone number free of strange or disturbing calls.

• RingCentral Free Voicemail: Get a free number of your choice, and direct calls to a voicemail service. You can set up alerts for incoming voicemail messages. Upgrade is necessary to receive calls to your phone number.
  
• PrivatePhone.com: This services will be available starting June 1st. Sign-up is free, and it entitles you to a free phone number in the area code of your choice with a voicemail box that can be checked by phone or over the Internet.  You can also set up an SMS message alerts to get mobile phone notifications. To actually have calls forwarded to your real phone number, you have to upgrade the service.
• Jangl: Strictly for the social scenester, this service provides you with a series of "disposable" phone numbers you can give out to any stranger you meet. If they call the number, the call is then forwarded to your real phone number. You can sign-up to be a  beta participant, since the service is still in testing.  No word on price yet but it should be free for now. Read Silion Beat on Jangl.

Those are my three suggestions. Feel free to post about your experience with these type of services in the comments below.