This is not correct. Go to a phone booth, get Signal, never need the phone number again. Any phone will do. Get a phone number from a different country online and without identity check, who cares, you will never need it again.
https://www.reddit.com/r/openstreetmap/comments/96sbd6/comme...
I tested it and it works for me.
(area["ISO3166-1:alpha2"="my_country_code_here"];) -> .a;
node["amenity"="telephone"].
(area.a);
(._;>;);
out body;
Guess I'll continue not using Signal or Telegram.
"amenity=phone" returns 15 matches worldwide.
"amenity:phone", "amenity:telephone" or "amenity=telephone" (no other filters) returns the same 2 matches.
EDIT:
Belgacom started removing them in 2013 in Brussels, and the rest of country followed suit. The Belgian regulator found it unnecessary to require them with the ubiquity of mobile phones.
https://www.bruxelles.be/sites/default/files/bxl/Com_.%20pre...
I see 740 phone booths in Berlin at least, as a counter example.
What if I lose my phone and want to login again on a new one. Don't they send a verification code to the number again?
Since we’re discussing not providing your phone number out of privacy/security concerns, I assume that “registration lock” and PIN are on the table, which would anyway block you from registering again using the same number after loosing your phone.
Hence, the situation is the same as with your mobile phone number: no backup, no luck.
Even the one who want it seem not to know about “registration block” and “PIN” concepts in Signal, so I seriously question if they really want it…