Don’t Use a Toll Free # For Whois Records
Many people use a separate phone number on their Whois records than they use for their personal needs. They don’t want their home or cell phone ringing at all hours, or they want to know specifically when the phone is ringing for a possible domain inquiry. I know a few people who use a toll-free number for their Whois records, and I don’t think this is a great idea.
During the last couple of years, it seems that there has been a massive increase in the number of spam robocalls that are being made. I believe some spammers are targeting phone numbers on Whois records, especially on new domain name registrations. My belief stems from the fact that I get a ton of spam text messages after I register a domain name, and I also receive quite a bit of junk mail addressed to new domain registrations. I think spammers assume new domain names mean new businesses are starting, and they believe their plethora of loans, SEO help, and other website offerings would be well targeted.
There are a number of toll free phone number services that are easy to use and setup. Most if not all of these services charge their users for the number of minutes used per month. Although most robocalls seem to hang up before the voicemail prompt, I have received a few recorded voicemail messages that are clearly done by robocallers. As annoying as it is for me to check my cell phone messages, I would be perturbed if I were paying for a robospammer to leave me a voice mail via my toll free service.
I already received three robocalls this morning. Sometimes I receive more and sometimes I receive less calls. It’s annoying, but fairly harmless. If these calls were being made to a toll free number and I had to pay each time, it would get me really upset. This is something to consider when setting up a separate phone number for your Whois records.
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About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has sold seven figures worth of domain names in the last five years. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest.Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Google + | Facebook | Email
Mark White
Did you get the one at says.. “Oh I’m sorry, I had to adjust my headset.” Then she just gos on, and on talking, I tryed to get a word in edgwise to avail, before it dawned on me that “This is a robocaller recording, LOL.
Eric Lyon
I never really jumped on the toll-free # band-wagon so I have avoided any unforeseen issues that could arise with billing. I have to completely agree that the robo-spam/telemarketing systems are a thorn in the side of public whois information.
However, with the above said, there is a solution.
Todays cellular technology has progressed so rapidly that you can pretty much buy a disposable cell phone from walmart for $20 or less with prepaid minutes on it.
The key to using one of these strictly for whois is that you never check your voicemail from the phone itself (Since that counts towards your prepaid minutes) or make calls on it. You can check your voicemail from another phone and keep all your prepaid minutes intact, thus creating a permanent whois voicemail. The prepaid minutes will just keep rolling over every month.
There’s always a solution 😉
Julio Maysonet
I like using my google voice phone number 917 for my whois and other places that I sign upto. I have it setup so that all calls that I receive are transcribed and emailed to me to my personal email address. This way I don’t have to waste my time listening to voicemails everytime I receive them.
Joseph Peterson
Because of all the robocalling, I only turn my phone on when I have a phone appointment or need 2-factor authorization to log in somewhere. 99% of the time, the phone is as dead as a rock in my pocket. My answering machine is a black hole … with a message saying messages are never heard.
Oren Arbit
Google voice with no forwarding. Problem solved. I get my voicemails to my email, and call back if and from any number I choose.