At least now, Google only permits you to get a Voice number if you can prove you have another US number to forward to (they dial you to verify). Although I do have a US number, that&#x27;s only because I happen to be working in the US right now; if I weren&#x27;t I probably wouldn&#x27;t.<p>Also a lot of apps in various other countries (notably China, because I&#x27;m familiar with it) do registrations via SMS, in which you need a +86 number in order to register, period. Smaller companies don&#x27;t have the infrastructure to send international SMS verification numbers. Larger Chinese companies (e.g. Weibo, Wechat) permit registration with a US number, but they&#x27;re larger companies who have servers in the US and infrastructure with US SMS gateways. So running around the world with a US number isn&#x27;t always practical. If SMS is dethroned as a &quot;de facto&quot; communication method that everyone is expected to have, this might change. Other places besides China may also have a similar situation.