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Many other secure IM software managed to work without phone numbers and they are also metadata resistant. Signal should start doing things that way.

In many countries your SIM card is tied to you, which is a huge deal-breaker.

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Yup, in Poland, a mobile phone number (pre-paid or not, it doesn't matter) is tied to a PESEL number [1] at the time of purchase. The official justification, as usual, was combating crime, but the end result is a tighter grip on citizens' privacy by the government while spammers and others continue their business as usual.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PESEL

Same or similar in Germany. Almost impossible to get a SIM card without showing up somewhere with your id. Or I don't know how to.

Just step into a random supermarket in a neighbouring countr and buy a SIM in cash at the register.

It's crazy how heterogeneous rules are inside the EU.

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