I've been using this phone number from JMP.chat and I've barely used it for much of anything (Started February 27th, 2024), and somehow its telling me I need $35? I tried out their service plan but it was way too expensive. I only bought it once and took off my credit card after because auto pay kept auto depositing money into my account too frequently. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?
Edit: Found out what happened, it's $6.99/GB for the eSIM, I'm billed 5GB at a time. So $35 total.
Ah, appreciate the clarification.
If your payment is linked to the number, is it any more private than a PAYG number?
It can be used entirely without a SIM card or even a mobile-phone. All you need is an internet connected device and a compatible XMPP client.
This is pretty useful. Is there anything for UK based folk?
Sadly no, but you can self-host their stack and link it to an SIP voip provider: https://blog.jmp.chat/b/mobile-friendly-sip-gateway
But that will give you only a land-line based phone-number with no SMS support most likely.
Maybe look into Hushed. I know they advertise having UK numbers. It's a similar service but I don't think they have a desktop client