Same - I never need to give my personal number to anyone. It's not even listed, so I avoid 99.9% of scam/phishing calls (unlike my work phone). Only family and friends use this number[1].

I have another number which I only use for the local pay-with-phone system. Second sim in a cheap dual-sim phone. And then there's a phone number which I only use for handing over to those services requiring a phone number ([1]the only exception to this whole thing is that my local bank actually has my personal number, but that's a voluntary exception).

There's no rule that "phone number" should equal "my personal phone number".

Except for the phone number thing though, I completely sympathize with the author.

In some countries, phone numbers require a phone plan or service to stay active, sometimes at a not-inconsiderable monthly fee.

I use charge card plans for those phones - I pay only for the usage. I push what amounts to about ten euros into the plan and that lasts a long time. To avoid non-activity I send a text message a couple of times a year.

Can Europeans get Google Voice numbers?

Does it have to be a Google voice number?

no

The issues with those is that google will prompt you if you don't use them. I lost my within a week because I didn't see the email.

I keep my numbers at didww.com now where I pay a small fee but they won't just delete my number.

Google and many other services reject voip numbers, though

I have numbers there that have been ported from local providers. There is no way for Google or anyone to determine if a number is a voip number. All google knows is which numbers they provided and this list may also be available to others.

Or there is a simple database lookup way to determine that the number doesn't belong to the local provider:

"Superfast Response Times As we access the entire mobile number portability (MNP) database in every country where number porting is in operation, Velocity can truly live up to its name, providing answers at lightening speed (typically less than 5ms)"

https://tmtid.com/velocity/

That's not accurate - when a telephone company registers a block of numbers (at least in the US), you specify if it's landline, pager, VoIP, cellular, etc.

I also wondered why not just use a Google voice number. I have about 3 of them out the 10 or random gmail addresses I own.

OP is in the Netherlands. GV is US only.

But yeah, good idea if you're in the US.

I was not aware of that

So if I have a problem with the OS itself, there must be a Google phone number I can contact? Right?

Of course there is a phone number, it's even available on the first page of results if you, wait for it, google it. They also have an email. You'll be ignored, of course, but that'd be no different from what I'm suggesting the dev could do

> You'll be ignored, of course, but that'd be no different from what I'm suggesting the dev could do

I wonder what would happen to their metrics if they are reported to ignore support? And I wonder what would happen when Google ignores support?

Only thing left is to wonder, we don't have many examples of companies/individuals ignoring support to know for certain

Not ignore per se. But I've never had a pleasant experience trying to get insurance to do its job.