What is a “Number Neighbour?” and How do I get Number Neighbour Protection for my child’s mobile phone? This is a common question we are asked.
A Number Neighbour is someone who shares an adjacent or close mobile number to yours. So if your phone number ends with 786, your number neighbours have the same number ending in 787 or 785. Sometimes it’s referred to as a “text-door neighbour”.
“Call my number neighbour” or “text my number neighbour”, or the “number neighbour challenge” is a recurring internet meme that began some time around 2009 and appears to re-appear every few years. As these things tend to do. It’s seen as a ready excuse to text or call a stranger and record the results to share on social media.
Unfortunately, and it’s a big unfortunately, you have no way of knowing who this might be and, wearing a child protection hat, children calling strangers isn’t particularly something you’d encourage any more than you’d encourage strangers ringing your child for the purposes of their own entertainment.
These things have innocent intentions by and large, but unfortunately, it’s a vector for less benign conversations and can lead to children becoming stressed or upset, and may not tell parents what has happened for fear of upsetting them.
Unfortunately a quick internet search such as This Example from Mashable shows what can happen. Saying “Hey Number Neighbour” doesn’t always get you the hilarious response that you were hoping you would be able to share with your friends in Tik Tok.
Block my number neighbour
To protect our users from such things, ParentShield users can gain number neighbour protection automatically by requesting ‘block my number neighbour’ via the Parentshield Portal or web chat. We will automatically add the numbers either side of your child’s mobile number to your Block List. This means these numbers can never call or text your child’s phone, and can never be called or texted by your child. Should there be an instance where one of your child’s friends also uses ParentShield, and they have an adjacent number – then it’s a simple job to remove just the one.
If the ParentShield SIM is set in Ultra Secure Mode then these calls are always blocked anyway, but if not they will then be blocked by the Blocking List.
Even if you don’t use the “block my number neighbour” facility, every ParentShield customer has the ability to record all these calls and texts so any examples can trigger some timely conversations about the dangers.
How to block all Number Neighbours
Time needed: 1 minute
How to block number neighbour sms and calls to my Child’s phone:
- Log Into your Portal and use the “Block Number Neighbours” Button
In the Portal – Click on the “Settings” tab, and under the block entitled “ULTRA SECURE MODE” you will see a button:
Press this and the job is done. You can refine the numbers under the Manage Block List section.
If you can’t log in – go to Step two! - Contact ParentShield Support
Use the live Chat button on the website to request Neighbour Number Blocking. If you use your email address we will be able to identify you easily – just stand by to provide the secret answer to the secret question.