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Comment by vertis | Hacker News Reader

I got really confused when I first saw this and though it was something for consumers not IoT devices (Sorry twilio team for the application for access shrug).

I really wish someone would nail this for consumer phones. I'm coming up on a year away from home in various countries and the constant sim swapping is beginning to get annoying.

I actually bought a dual sim phone so that I can keep my Australian sim card in for 2FA security sms messages (etc).

Before someone suggests it, Google Fi is US only, unless you want to arrange for a reshipper (and even then, I'm not sure if it works).

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I was just going to say Google Fi absolutely nails this until I saw your last line and realized they're still just catering to the US market.

The past two years I've been a digital nomad living about 90% time outside the US and traveling to a lot of countries. Fi has not let me down in a single place! I keep maxing out data cuz of the $60 data cap for upto 15gb.

Wish I had a suggestion for a service like this for people based outside the US but looks like no one's trying to serve this market like Google is. I'm sure there's a lot of money to be made if a business just starts focusing on this segment.

Telstra does this (depending on which countries you're in, but it's a pretty solid set). Pricing is exorbitant though ($200 Aussie/mo) and international data is low (10GB/mo).

Still, it's an option, particularly if you're not paying your own phone usage and need to maintain a consistent number.

I’m totally with you.

The dream would be to have a single SIM which roams globally and to which you could attach multiple numbers from various countries.

Closest I’ve found is https://www.truphone.com/ but they seem not to offer individual plans.

Why do you want multiple numbers? Doesn't something like Whatsapp or FaceTime help prevent you from needing them?

That works for people you meet socially, but may be less accepted for business. There's also the case of e.g. Uber drivers calling you to ask for directions to where you are.

Mostly for business. Maybe some people are comfortable to Whatsapp you, but it's inappropriate for a lot of situations.

Also, in a lot of places you need a local number to get things done. Like when making reservations at restaurants or you leave your number in the POS to have them text when a table is ready, etc.

As it is, I have a dual SIM Android phone as well as an iPhone and have 3 postpaid plans in different places. Massive pain.

Got it, so it's the recipient who matters. If whatsapp let you send it out as a plain old SMS from a number you can select, and receive their SMS as a whatsapp message, would it solve your problem?

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