Things are getting less friendly in the VOIP world. We've had a couple of numbers on
https://www.openphone.com/ for awhile now. Really nice interface. They are using Twilio under the covers.
BUT, things have really gotten ugly regarding the ability to send messages. This isn't the fault of openphone or twilio, this problem applies to ALL voip providers.
All the mobil carriers have gotten together to "solve" the problem of messaging spam. See
https://www.campaignregistry.com/. They are all supposedly
weeks away from rejecting messages from unregistered numbers.
The problem comes in that they assume that ALL VOIP numbers are "a business". There are 2 ways to register a business. One is to provide a bunch of info including an EIN (tax # for businesses). The other is to register as a Sole Proprietor using a real mobile number. Either way this TCR organization verifies the info. And if registering successfully as a Sole Proprietor only ONE of our voip numbers will be accepted - any others can't be registered.
My family is using voip for personal purposes - not as a business. There is no way to register a voip number that way. I've tried to register as a Sole Proprietor but it rejects my mobile number (T-Mobile prepaid). They (openphone) are still trying to figure out why.
If one gets registered successfully there is an initial charge (~$20 I think) and then $2/month to remain registered.
I'm all in favor of cleaning up spam messages but the way they've done it sucks. It's like they want to prevent individuals from using voip for personal purposes. As in - get your phone service directly from us instead.
Consider yourself lucky if you're on voip and haven't been hit with this - yet. I suspect it's coming soon.