FALLS CHURCH, Va.—A handful of startups are targeting wireless subscribers who may be reluctant to divulge their phone numbers.
Tossable Digits Inc., which launched service earlier this year, provides a 10-digit phone number and five-digit extension that subscribers can use for up to 30 days. Calls to the number are forwarded to a subscriber’s mobile, home or office phone for $5 a month.
The offering, which also allows users to block calls during certain times, is available in 16 U.S. cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco.
Separately, Jangl, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based startup, emerged from stealth mode two weeks ago with a similar service. The company’s offering allows users to access “disposable numbers” that can be used for both incoming and outgoing calls. The service, which is in testing, includes a screening feature that prompts callers to introduce themselves in a few words; subscribers can opt not to take the call after hearing the introduction.
Finally, U.K.-based Safe-Talk provides a temporary number to users who send a text message to a short code. The number can be used for seven days, and the service can be extended with another text message. Each message costs $1.75.
“Most of us have people in our social networking profiles that we don’t either know as well, or don’t know beyond being connected in that network,” Jangl co-founder Michael Cerda posted on the company’s Web site. “So oftentimes we have a way to IM or e-mail through those networks. …. We’re a way to port those communications to our phones, where we spend even more time than on PCs.”
