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Comment by abrahamsen | Hacker News Reader

I hate not being included in "everyone".

(Google Voice is not available in your country.)

I'm in France and was able to sign up. You just need access to a US phone number for a few minutes, and there are many ways you can get one. One is to signup for 3jam for one month, another is to get a SkypeIn number. It's probably possible with Twilio as well.

That having been said, you don't get as much use out of it as if you lived in the US. But I use it for free unlimited SMS (incoming and outgoing) to my friends in the US, and for voicemail with an American number .

Are you able to forward to your French number(s)?

No, I can just use SMS and voicemail. It is really nice to have these two features, though, because it makes it super easy to communicate with people in the US for free.

If you want a Google-voice like service that works in Europe, then try 3jam (although it's not free).

wow, didn't know all you need is a number!?

when I'll get the US number, what should I do next?

Use a US-based proxy to sign up (to get past the geolocation) and give them the US number when they ask for your cell number. Then you'll get your own US number from GV and can drop the other one. You also won't need to use a proxy after signup. After that, you can use it for free US-based SMS and voicemail.

Well, the US proxy thing I was contemplating about myself. The OP seems to imply that all you need is US phone number, no proxy or anything.

(I'm the OP) Yes, but I also needed a US number to get started. The reason I didn't mention a proxy is because that's super easy, and I figured it was too obvious to mention (although I should have said that you only need to use the proxy for about 5 minutes while signing up). Getting a US number to get started is the hard(er) part.

How do you jump the enter-digit verification via 3jam? Tried linking 3jam to my Skype account, to no avail; do you forward it to your mobile phone?

Yes. With 3jam you can forward to your (European) mobile, although there's a per-minute charge (Of course if all you're using it for is GV signup, then it shouldn't be much - 1 or 2 minutes of talk time).

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