To be clear, it doesn't need to be "anonymous" or anything like that because in the end this is for a completely KYC use, that is banking.
I just need something that 1. works overseas, 2. receives SMS, (3. doesn't charge stupid subscription fees. I just talked to one company that wants $44.00/mo).
I would even use the "normal" carriers, but being a non-resident, even though the company is fully registered in the US, they simply won't let me.
Maybe jmp.chat is an option? But I never used it. Just came to mind.
Working on it. So far, onboarding is quite convoluted, but I'm getting the hang of it. Let's see how it goes if and when I'm in, if it really does what they say and what I need... Will report back.
I mean -- if it does finally work, this is fuckin brilliant, I must say.
I wish they would offer more countries I had already tried it. But US and Canada is not fitting for me.
Yeah, there's always one thing or another. I'm having this very specific need too, of a US number that can receive SMS. Otherwise, if it were simply about getting a virtual phone number, I would have been able to solve it a long time ago.
I read your note about silent link and the mess you had with them. I'm lucky with their service for data only. Never had any problems or network failures.
Ok. Oh man I hope it works in the end and the time you invested was worth it. Good luck! Tell me how it worked out.
Time and sats... I've had to pay twice so far, plus the sats I spent on the other service the other day, etc. etc.
Just to receive a bloody sms, because banks insist to live in the 20th century.
Since I'm involved in bitcoin banks became a big pain every time I have to interact with them for more then my normal online payments.
Once I tried to set up a wise account and after several hours and many submitted documents they instantly closed my account with no reason. Just pointed out I would have violated their terms and services. lol
I signed up for silent-link yesterday too. My impression is that it's cheap, slow, mobile internet service for people who roam about the globe. The IP address they assigned me was from Warsaw, Poland of all places.
But their voice and SMS, even by their own admission, is done on a "best efforts basis," which is just a polite way to say "it usually won't work."
Even if you catch it on a good day and it works, the service is inbound only. You can't send. So if your bank were to ask you to approve a transaction by responding with "YES," you won't be able to do so.
Someone will likely recommend that you try a VOIP service like OpenPhone. That'll fail too. Although their SMS works, it doesn't work with banks. Banks won't send SMS to VOIP services. At least that's the case with Bank of America and other major US banks.
The only thing I've found that works is to buy a cheap, prepaid flip phone with cash, in my case from Verizon, though you can probably buy online for Bitcoin. Then you can pay for it each month using BitRefill. It'll run at least $35 per month.
I've been wrestling with OpenPhone since last year, literally 😂
Looks like I'm very fucked...
