Verification ills

General
1

Howdy Folks.
My partner is trying to sign up for SS & it now requires either login.gov or id.me to access it - and both demand phone verification.

We tried each of our cellular phones & even our soon to die fp line - to no avail.
(They also refuse all VOIP numbers including GV.)

I even stooped low enough to look for an old fashioned landline - but none come here at all.

Turns out comcast/xfinity has a landline option & does claim that it'll work for gov. phone verifications, so long as they get paid ~$70/month for the service.
Ouch.

Does anyone here have a better, less $pendy idea for this ??

Thanks for reading & for any help !!

2

Are you able to get an Obama phone? I think that would be true cell number and not VOIP. Otherwise, I guess the best deal for paid cell phone would be those shopping channel cell phone with 1 year service.

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3

Thanks for replying Pew.

I do have a gov phone but of course it is not in her name so it doesn't work for that.

The shopping channel phones with 1 year you mentioned...any idea what sorts of pricing they have ??

I've looked at Slickdeals & found a $50 Straight Talk deal, but it may just be VZ which has zero signal here.

Thanks again.

PS:
She has a US Mobile phone on AT&T, but they refused that as well.

4

She should get one of those Obama phone and should work...

HSN always have different deals. But these are prepaid phones, so I am not sure.
https://www.hsn.com/shop/cell-phones/ec0373

If you have T-Mobile service, try getting a Helium line. I just had ID.me send me a SMS, on my Helium line, to log in to a site and the text came through. If you sign up with Helium, please use my referral code on the Referral Links thread. :slight_smile:

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5

Thanks Again Pew !!

She cannot get a gov phone until getting SS...but cannot get SS until getting verified - so round 'n' round we've gone with this debacle.

I looked at HSN & most of that stuff is either VZ/tf, (krappy) blu stuff, or more than their $69 (presently) lowest priced offering.

We have ONLY AT&T here - neither VZ nor T-Mobile services reach this rural area.

If it'd work I'd be delighted to use your referral code - but sadly I cannot.

Thus far our only real option remains what I mention in the OP, sadly.

6

AT&T based service, maybe a low use annual plan through RedPocket GSMA plan? FP is VOIP but I think RP is real cell number.

eBay discounted prepaid yearly plan:

$60 for a year plan:
Pardon Our Interruption...?

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7

Excellent thought Pew, thanks again !!

We had RedPocket GSMA before we got into US Mobile.

I'll visit their help somehow & ask if it will pass for what she needs.

$60/year is definitely better than $70 month !!

8

The update for this all, so far...

In considering RedPocket GSMA I visited their help via chat & asked if it will pass for what she needs.

The reps at RP are apparently outsourced - thus not native english speakers such that even in black & white things are elusive for them - and all I got were evasive non-answers...so I quit for the night.

Today I used their 24/7 voice line & it took 4 attempts before I got a clear connection & someone even remotely understandable - phew !!

Bottom line there is that for all of $10 I ordered a SIM for a new line with all the specifics exactly in her name, etc. .

Hopefully it arrives soon & works.
If so, I can use the fleabay $60/360 days to refill it & that will work out well.

If not, the fallback will have to be the far more $pendy comcast deal - and now only time will reveal which (if either) is a success.

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9

A bit of additional info for anyone considering Redpocket:
They now hide tracking info behind what they call a 'proprietary system' so that users can only get any info at all by logging into their site.

This does not endear this user to them - hiding things is not a goodness IMO.

10

Thanks, Freedompop. LOL

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11

So...8 days after ordering - that RP SIM card from NY has still not arrived to me in VT - which is usually a 2 day max. transit via USPS..

Of course their obscured tracking info remains next to useless & there's no way to know what carrier has it.

I'm still hoping it will be a good choice for the needed verification.

12

Slight update about rp:
My SIM order was placed 6/22 - claimed to have shipped 6/25, and now - 11 days later it has still not arrived.

Contacted rp 'support' about this and have gotten no response from them.

Rp used to be pretty good but it looks like those times are past & gone.

13

I guess everything changed once they merged with FP. Sad.

I am guessing FP is run by LLM!

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14

Worthy of note are these 2 items:
1 - SIM finally came via USPS;
2 - RP 'support' does not answer clearly worded english queries.

And after all the BS & waiting - that line did not work to pass phone # validation at either site.

15

Sorry to hear that RP did not work. :frowning:

Perhaps it have to be a post-pad account. Maybe you have to get a Trump phone. LOL

Oh, I guess you'd just have to drive to a Soc Sec office and arrive an hour before it opens to get in on walk-in.

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16

It becomes clear now that making an office app't for her followed by the hour+ drive will be needed...sigh.

17

Thanks, Elon! Join the club. LOL

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