# Could I get a 900 number as my personal phone number? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 28, 2006, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-get-a-900-number-as-my-personal-phone-number/358523 "2006-05-28T06:51:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-get-a-900-number-as-my-personal-phone-number/358523/1 "2006-05-28T06:51:46Z")
Is it possible for a private citizen to have a 900 number as their personal home phone number? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-get-a-900-number-as-my-personal-phone-number/358523/2 "2006-05-28T07:24:13Z")
I don’t see why not. You’d just have to convince enough people that talking to you is worth $1.95 a minute. 🙂 A quick google on “900-number provider” yielded a sponsored ad from [PayPerCall.com](http://paypercall.com/phone.html), who quote a setup fee of 800 dollars, a per-month cost of 50 dollars, and a choice of costs per call. Dunno how rigorous their customer qualification is… ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-get-a-900-number-as-my-personal-phone-number/358523/3 "2006-05-28T08:38:05Z")
I know plenty of people who _should_ pay me $1.95 a minute to listen to them babble. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-get-a-900-number-as-my-personal-phone-number/358523/4 "2006-05-28T14:46:00Z")
Certainly. To have either 800 or 900 service you need to have an conventional local number for the call to be sent to. 900 service is much like 800 service. It’s simply an add-on where calls to that 800/900 number are forwarded to your actual local number. The entity doing the forwarding tracks the call detail info (from, to, start time, duration) and sends a billing record for the appropriate $ to the appropriate local provider & account#. For 800, they bill the number forwarded to, and for 900 they bill the caller. bottom line: You don’t get a 900 number _instead_ of your current number, you get it _in addtion to_ your local number. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-get-a-900-number-as-my-personal-phone-number/358523/5 "2006-05-30T06:24:12Z")
What the OP is probably referring to is a 500 number, aka “follow me” personal communications service. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-get-a-900-number-as-my-personal-phone-number/358523/6 "2006-05-30T13:04:35Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > What the OP is probably referring to is a 500 number, aka “follow me” personal communications service. Didn’t AT&T pull the plug on those? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-get-a-900-number-as-my-personal-phone-number/358523/7 "2006-05-30T14:44:55Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > What the OP is probably referring to is a 500 number, aka “follow me” personal communications service. Standard call forwarding to a cell phone would easily cover this. I do it every day for my business. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-get-a-900-number-as-my-personal-phone-number/358523/8 "2006-05-30T19:27:57Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Didn’t AT&T pull the plug on those? I don’t think they could, as it is the North American Numbering Plan, not one specific phone company, that defines such things. They’re still listed in the official plan (see [www.nanpa.com](http://www.nanpa.com)). I suppose AT&T could decide they would not participate in this, just leave the business to other companies. It may be that technology has passed this option by. It was designed back when nearly all phones were land lines, and there were no nationwide cell phones. Like drachillix says, call forwarding to a cell phone can do this now. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-get-a-900-number-as-my-personal-phone-number/358523/9 "2006-05-30T20:08:53Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > It may be that technology has passed [the 500-number] by. It was designed back when nearly all phones were land lines, and there were no nationwide cell phones. Like drachillix says, call forwarding to a cell phone can do this now. (edits mine) The 500 area code may be in the NANP, but I had read that AT&T was the only provider of 500-numbers, and decided to quit the business. I could be wrong, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-get-a-900-number-as-my-personal-phone-number/358523/10 "2006-05-30T20:42:48Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > but I had read that AT&T was the only provider of 500-numbers, and decided to quit the business. I could be wrong, though. You appear to be. The NANP site ([http://www.nanpa.com/nas/public/formPCSMasterReport.do?method=displayPCSMasterReport](http://www.nanpa.com/nas/public/formPCSMasterReport.do?method=displayPCSMasterReport)) lists hundreds of assigned 500- numbers, from America West to Zeke’s General Store & Internet Communications Company. But no AT&T that I could see. (Of course, wasn’t that company split up 20-some years ago?)