Yes; it was Upptalk! The main question: is it a good provider?

Meanwhile, I tried to register with Fongo, I even got the verification email, but when I clicked on it, then it said 'bad link'!? Is it that bad? The site https://www.freephoneline.ca/accountRegistrationStepOne is pretty ugly as well.

OK, I forgot to mention, from my experience, Pinger sucks, big time.

Here I add 2 other providers I come across: http://www.textplus.com/ (nicer website)

https://vir2sim.com/ (average site)

Any feedback is appreciated.

OFF:

Seriously; website niceness is an issue - for me. In the age where all new (social media app/startup) sites just look gorgeous, responsive, etc., quite a few of the online telephony websites just look so bad, they seem like they are from 15 years ago.

I wonder if it is really so bad to be in the online telephony business/be a telephony startup? I guess, maybe, as prices race to the bottom in this field.

Think K7.net, which is a 'classic' site, but hey, it does what it does; it works. Any newer alternative for that? That is, simple voicemail. There was (WAS) also jConnect offering a free voicemail number; ugly site, and no more. ;)

I mean, there is Google Voice (after so many years, still in the USA only); any worthwhile competitors?

To add a new dimension to the online SMS question, and why I simple do not want to carry verification SIM or SIMs. I kind of agree with Apple on this: SIM cards just getting old (think of the iPad Air 2). It wold be satisfying to be able to find a 100% online solution, which just works. OK: Google Voice, but still.

I doubt it. Fongo is a Canadian company that offers Canadian phone numbers to Canadians only. When I set up my Fongo account several years ago I had to confirm the registration using another Canadian phone number. This is a solution that works well but only for Canadians (and those who can masquerade as Canadians ;))

This may sound odd, but I don't really know.

I've had an account for some time, accruing credit by running some adverts or other offers, or previously for receiving incoming calls to the number (this method no longer earns credit) but I have hardly made any outgoing calls.

I ought to try using it more, as there are plenty of minutes there now, and they also seem to offer 10 free minutes per week.

Textplus, I just installed its update to Nextplus, but haven't used it yet.

I also installed TextMe, for which I'd make roughly the same comments as UppTalk, it's there but hardly used. It kept changing the incoming number though, and receiving texts sent presumably by friends of previous holders of those numbers. I hope it would keep the same number if actually used much, but test this before you trust it. Also as I mentioned before its number range wasn't reachable from some UK networks, so I didn't test it much.

You can probably find several similar applications in the store for your phone type, and try them out one or two at a time.

Also take a look at Fishtext. Sending messages cost mostly about 1.5 or 2 UK pence each, and for sending ID you can either have it simulate your SIM phone number, so you'd receive replies via that, or get them to allocate their own dedicated non SIM number, so you can get replies online or in its application. But I wonder if this number range might have compatibility issues from some other countries - I don't know.

They issue extra long numbers which aren't fully compatible with all systems. They could cause problems.

Thank you for the updates, Andy!

FreedomPop Expands to Europe w/ Launch of UK’s first FREE Mobile Service

What to expect from this? If I were after a real phone number for this purpose (as you previously suggested I should be), this one would be it.

I forgot to say earlier that this one issues a phone number that is allocated to Three, so would presumably not be affected by the network compatibility issues that may affect some of the other number series.

It allocated a number at the start, and recently removed it after lack of use. A couple of days ago the application suggested press here to get a phone number. The new number is also apparently a Three UK allocation.

Both numbers have received probable (unanswered) junk marketing phone calls, so they do work

As for FreedomPop mentioned in the post above, it's still "coming to the UK this summer".

Hello! Happy new year! I am a new member of this community.

The previously recommended UppTalk stopped offering non-US (UK, German, Spanish) numbers. Do I have any other options for a non-US number?

I mean, in this day and age if I want to open a bank account, there is a question if I have any connection to the US, including phone numbers. It would be funny if I were to use the US virtual SMS number for as a 2FA for online banking.

Hey John8xhg!