> At least in the US

I'm not in the US. My current phone number is from a different country than the one I'm currently residing in. Endless headaches. Could I get a local phone number? Sure, but different kinds of headaches: updating all those asshole services who required me to give them a phone number.

> phone number portability

Portability? That makes me think "possible to hijack", ie "easy to lose".

Are you immune to SIM swap? If so, how have you achieved that?

> At least in the US they're nearly impossible to lose because of phone number portability.

If you miss a few payments, you'll be at risk of losing your phone number.

Is this a socioeconomic status thing? Cellphone plans are dirt cheap, on the order of $20-30 for a modest plan. I guess it's theoretically easier to lose than a free email plan, but I don't see either actually occurring.

This requires planning ahead for a disconnection though. Porting out your number requires the source number still be active.

It's just so weird to require a paid service to access a free service. Why not just a free service like email that can be accessed via free wifi.