2 ms·

It's not only about having a SIM but also have one 'they' like. I am with a small provider here in Switzerland (that is the daughter of the biggest provider) an

by herbst 4y ago

It's not only about having a SIM but also have one 'they' like. I am with a small provider here in Switzerland (that is the daughter of the biggest provider) and things like Twitter, Twitch, .. don't even support that number for whatever reason. I personally only use throwaway rental numbers on the web, basically giving me the worst security possible for any kind of account that falls back to SMS for security.

jandrese 4y ago
I know people who have tried to save money or tried to avoid giving money to unethical companies by only having a virtual phone number. Turns out that virtual SMS numbers are treated like radioactive Ebola by most services.
- herbst 4y ago
  It's a lot more complex than that actually. With Signalwire for example you can rent Canadian (and US) numbers at 0.2/m that work well with surprisingly many services, but not all. In a similar fashion you always find the right company to use/abuse any service that asks for a number. You won't get around the internet with a single cheap VOIP number tho. Plus there are providers with more or less perfect Sims but they are expensive. There are also services that are specialized on providing the right number for a one time fee. This usually works well, but more often than not destroys future account security (they all will give numbers out again, not relevant what they claim) I could literally write a book about my life without a 'real' phone number.
  - jandrese 4y ago
    I would buy and read that book, even though I know a lot of it will be out of date by the time it was ready for sale.
    - herbst 4y ago
      Things like my bank refusing to work with me over the phone because the person literally did not believe I could have a number starting with 666. That's timeless :)
- fasteo 4y ago
  We actually scrape like 30 sites offering virtual numbers to block them all. Our customers don't like seeing their SMS appearing in random sites.
  - Dylan16807 4y ago
    They should stop being so nosy and looking over the user's shoulder, then.
  - herbst 4y ago
    That doesn't sound really effective at all. So you only go after the 'free online SMS numbers' so every number behind a minimal pay wall still works?

by herbst 4y ago

jandrese 4y ago

I know people who have tried to save money or tried to avoid giving money to unethical companies by only having a virtual phone number. Turns out that virtual SMS numbers are treated like radioactive Ebola by most services.

herbst 4y ago
It's a lot more complex than that actually. With Signalwire for example you can rent Canadian (and US) numbers at 0.2/m that work well with surprisingly many services, but not all. In a similar fashion you always find the right company to use/abuse any service that asks for a number. You won't get around the internet with a single cheap VOIP number tho. Plus there are providers with more or less perfect Sims but they are expensive. There are also services that are specialized on providing the right number for a one time fee. This usually works well, but more often than not destroys future account security (they all will give numbers out again, not relevant what they claim) I could literally write a book about my life without a 'real' phone number.
- jandrese 4y ago
  I would buy and read that book, even though I know a lot of it will be out of date by the time it was ready for sale.
  - herbst 4y ago
    Things like my bank refusing to work with me over the phone because the person literally did not believe I could have a number starting with 666. That's timeless :)
fasteo 4y ago
We actually scrape like 30 sites offering virtual numbers to block them all. Our customers don't like seeing their SMS appearing in random sites.
- Dylan16807 4y ago
  They should stop being so nosy and looking over the user's shoulder, then.
- herbst 4y ago
  That doesn't sound really effective at all. So you only go after the 'free online SMS numbers' so every number behind a minimal pay wall still works?