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How can I use 2fa with no stable phone number

3 points by ethereumnomad ↗ HN
I'm traveling the world as a digital nomad and I have become incredibly frustrated as I am locked out of many accounts I own because I no longer use the same phone number, some of which have cash balances associated with them.

It seems like these services treat your phone number as some permanent identifier which seems nonsensical to me.

The two suggestions I've heard are to use google voice or authy, both of which then rely on having a stable, and I think US based phone number, so have the same exact problem.

So is the message from every service that uses 2fa that the service isnt for you if you are moving around and don't have a stable phone number? Or is there something I'm missing here?

6 comments

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DamonHD
Get a roaming SIM with a fixed number, just for 2FA if necessary, maybe in a dual-SIM phone.

Not that 2FA over mobile is that secure, necessarily...

ethereumnomad
That's what is really pissing me off... It seems like a laughable security measure but it seems like I'm basically forced to comply with it if I want to use the modern internet.
[dead] ethereumnomad
That's what is really pissing me off... It seems like a laughable security measure but it seems like I'm basically forced to comply with it if I want to use the modern internet.
mrpound
Is there a reason you can't use Google Authenticator or some other kind of non-SMS based 2FA?
jeffmould
Create a Twilio app that receives the SMS. You could either have it then forward to your existing number or some kind of web-based interface for checking and forwarding. Then when your number changes you just update your Twilio app with your new phone number but the main number is always the same.
kevinherron
Use a YubiKey instead?

What about Google Authenticator?