Cheapest Way To Get A Phone Number/Plan?

[Wes]

Phone numbers are useful for many things. For example, resumes without phone numbers are usually tossed and Discord requires verified phone numbers for some features and servers. So if you're a SARPer who is short on cash, and need a working cell number, what is the best and cheapest way(s) to get one? I figured I'd crowdsource the community as there's at least one of our people who's got this problem.

Some ideas I had:

• Google Voice (but you need a working number to get a GV number so that didn't work)
• Set up Star Army with a Ringcentral business account and get some VOIP numbers to share among the community - $20 for 20 people basically
• I or someone who can add lines cheaply to an existing a family & friends plan could add a line for another SARPer (requries a lot of trust but cost effective)

What ideas do you have?

 

[hyralt]

There are free sites that allow you to use a temporary phone number to receive texts. Most of these sites seem pretty sketchy, but https://www.smsnator.com/ was the least sketchy one I could find after a short search.

 

[demibear]

It might not work for a number of (increasingly) services. They want phone numbers that have your name as the owner of the number and not the VOIP. I have had this problem starting last year since I parked an old number as I didn't want to lose it and it no longer works. I'm sure it helps with fighting spam/fraud (*snickers*), but it hurts normal people that have reasons for not having a "traditional" phone plan.