[romwell]

I've had my phone stolen while traveling, and I can't say how much I despise any system that uses a phone number for authentication.

Go figure, you can't get a SIM card sent to you from the US to Europe, meaning that you potentially lose:

* Access to messenger apps and chat history

* Access to your bank account (with a special nod to Citi)

* Access to your email account if it uses "2FA" with a phone (looking at you, Google)

* etc

Given that my bank cards and laptop were stolen along with the phone, I've had a Very Fun Time™ dealing with all these systems.

[smallerfish]

You can port your phone number to a voip provider if you will be out of the country for a while. Use a sip phone app, and the "transport layer" sim that you happen to use will have nothing to do with the phone number that is intermingled with your identity.

[romwell]

This is way too much hassle even for me as a techie.

And something tells me short-code SMS receipt (which is what banks use for 2FA) is not going to work well anyway.

[smallerfish]

If you don't need it, you don't need it. But for the record:

a) Porting your number takes about as much effort as moving between mobile phone providers

b) Setting up a sip app on your phone is trivial (server, username, password) - I'm generally a fan of Acrobits Softphone

c) My voip provider has an sms <> email gateway, so my bank (and other sms based) mfa lands in my gmail inbox