A potential client in Chicago wants a quick chat. You provide a UK mobile. Nothing for four days, then a short email suggesting you do this over email instead. That's what a +1 line removes. And you don't need to live in America to get one.
The call that never happens
An American client rings a UK mobile. Their network charges a premium and dials a strange code, they get their bill, then the next day there's an email saying do this by email. A +1 number eliminates that delay. Ten familiar digits, no roaming charges, job done.
US numbers are on the North American Numbering Plan: country code +1, three digit area code, seven digits local. Canada and around twenty Caribbean countries also have +1 so the code alone isn't terribly obvious. Inside is 212 for Manhattan, 415 for San Francisco, 305 for Miami, 312 for Chicago. Choose one the client would recognize. The problem is just US mobiles and landlines use the same area codes. Inside it's not obvious whether you are at a desk or on a train. That cuts both ways.
Forms that do not know what to do with you
Some American companies confirm your identity with SMS. The box on the website requests the number, an OTP appears, the account opens, and everything proceeds normally. When you fill in a box on that same form with an overseas mobile telephone number, the computer program will either inform you that it's formatted wrongly or it just sits there and won't process the information. Neither the software nor the carrier is malfunctioning. The code simply doesn't have a terminal where it can arrive.
The secondary screen is the caller ID display. Since 30th June 2021 the major American carriers are required to use the FCC STIR/SHAKEN anti-spoofing technology. Many incoming calls from abroad, simply by virtue of how global telecom systems differ, do not include the credentials to be authenticated. So, long before your telephone rings at the client site, the word 'Spam' appears on the screen in big letters.
That is the first thing your prospective client sees from you. The rules for text messages differ from those for calls. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 governs the way businesses can contact Americans via automated phone or text system, and starting late 2024 mobile carriers are blocking texts messages coming from local 10-digit telephone numbers that are not currently being registered in 'The Campaign Registry'. People who work in telecommunications call this registration procedure A2P 10DLC.
Voicemail, callbacks and the clock
The United States of America continental mass exists across 4 time zones ( Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific ). Then you have Alaska and Hawaii. There is a 3-hour difference between the American East Coast and the American West Coast. And for people operating in London, for instance, a 9 am start in New York is 2 pm. While holding a US telephone number won't magically adjust time zones for your clients, it completely transforms the experience of trying to get a return call.
Should a client miss your call, a local US number is a familiar, no-cost dialing option for them, and one which they instinctively understand how to use. A lost incoming call turns into a successful returned call, a result which a standard email may not produce.
Toll-free telephone numbers ( the codes are 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844, 833 ) are free to call for the customer. But most American toll free phone numbers aren't accessible from anywhere other than the US and Canada. Excellent if the prospect you are calling works in a suburb of Cleveland, problematic if they are calling you when you're not around, and entirely unusable if you try to make an outbound call from elsewhere. A local geographic area code gives you better versatility.
The 312 call
A Tuesday in Manchester, 6:12 pm, I wait for the 142 bus on Tib Street, eyeing up an unfinished flapjack. My mobile vibrates. In Chicago, Candle maker on West Cortez Street, Marla Kessler has been on the site for 26 minutes and is now ringing the number in the footer. It's 12:12pm there. I added a +1 number with a 312 area code to that footer when I published that post in the morning. Her call appears fine, tagged authentic under STIR/SHAKEN, no Spam likely. She's after a style guide for her spring line. Quote: $450. We make small talk about wicks and verbs for 19 minutes. She hires me before I even get to the bus stop.
My old UK mobile in that footer didn't do a lot for three weeks. I think she thought a call to Manchester would cost her $2 a minute. The +1 line removed that small friction. She's got a red Moleskine and a cold coffee on the table. 9am in New York is 2pm in London. Customers do ring when the number appears local.
MoreMins cost from $0.99 per month and code buy1get1 gave a second free US number for a month. Marla's invoice cleared on Friday.
Questions freelancers ask
Does a US number work on the phone I already own?
The US virtual phone number runs on an app, your existing cellphone, calls and texts are delivered via the internet, so there's no new SIM card or phone required.
Can I pick a particular area code?
The numbers available depend on what the provider has free at the time. Area codes are tied to specific locations, such as 415, San Francisco, or 312, Chicago, and they come and go as people scoop and release them.
Will a US number get me past a bank's checks?
Sadly, you're not suddenly an American on paper. US phone numbers are often used for verification by online services, so you'll pass that hurdle, and the verification text will arrive. Sorry to say, a US number will not fool your bank. A bank also checks your location and your identity docs as proof of identity.
The short version
The number will not do all the work, but it will do part of the work.