How to Change to an Unlisted Phone Number

Often times it can feel as if modern technological conveniences are, more and more, intruding into our everyday lives. No time is this more true than when you're being subjected to constant, unsolicited phone calls. Luckily, however, it's relatively easy to combat this problem by changing your phone number from a publicly listed number to an unlisted phone number. While the process is fairly easy, there are some associated fees and some tricks to making sure that your number stays confidential.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Working telephone number
• Money for a small monthly fee

1. Locate the contact number for your current telephone service provider. You can find that contact number either on your statements or by visiting its webpage. Most telephone service providers offer toll-free numbers for customer service, but be sure to set aside enough time. Sometimes wait times on such customer service lines can be rather lengthy.

2. Call your telephone service provider. Most of them have automated systems that you'll have to navigate to get an actual customer service representative on the phone. Although some companies will allow you to change to an unlisted phone number through their automated systems, most require you to actually speak with someone.

3. Inform the customer service representative, once you get him on the phone, that you'd like to change your phone number from a publicly listed number to an unlisted phone number. He should be familiar with the process and can usually complete it over the phone fairly quickly.

4. Make sure to ask about any associated fees or costs. Most telephone service providers charge a small monthly fee to customers who wish to have their telephone number remain unlisted (usually in the range of $2 to $10), and other companies also charge an initial fee for changing the number. Be sure that you know what these fees and costs are before you proceed.

5. Enjoy your unlisted number and make sure that you keep it private by refraining from giving it out to anyone who might publish it online or list it someplace. There's no point to getting an unlisted phone number if you're simply going to allow it to be listed online by an unscrupulous business or person. So, remember to protect your number's anonymity the way that you protect other important numbers like your bank account number or your Social Security number.

Tips & Warnings

• If you change your number to an unlisted phone number and still receive lots of unwanted calls, then it's probably because your number is already known by too many people. Call your phone company and get your number changed as well as keeping it unlisted to maximize privacy.
• Remember to give out your number to anyone you want to be able to reach you before you change your number to an unlisted one. After you change it, then people you want to be able to reach you may have just as difficult a time finding your unlisted number as those people you'd rather not speak with.