Lying would be a functional workaround rather than active pushback.  I specifically wanted them to justify their reasons for wanting the number, and why it would even be necessary to provide dial tone.  Are you administering a government benefit?  Are you acting as a tax withholding agent?  No?  Then you don&#x27;t need to have my SSN, and it is a significant risk to me for me to give it to you.  So I really need <i>some</i> rational justification for it.<p>I already suspected the true reason.  It was probably so they could more easily send and receive credit reporting information to the 3 big CRAs.  And that&#x27;s why I offered to pay for a year of service in advance.  But they stuck to their &quot;we just need it&quot; and &quot;it&#x27;s company policy&quot; non-reasons to the end.  And when I heard about their data breach in April, I felt so much schadenfreude welling up within me that I just couldn&#x27;t stop grinning, until I remembered that no one actually cares any more.<p>I can&#x27;t wait until mainstream businesses and government offices drop their PSTN numbers and start accepting synchronous audio-stream sessions (or &quot;calls&quot;) between endpoints identified by a URN or user address.<p>I hate, I hate, I hate &quot;the telephone company&quot;.