Re: It's an unknown
Here's a reason that might work. I currently live somewhere and I have a number there. I'm considering spending a longish time in a different country, and that country doesn't have the same telephone service providers. If I ask people in that country to use my number from this country, they may incur international charges. If I ask people from this country to use the number I get from that country, they will incur international charges. If I keep a roaming account in use on my phone, I will incur roaming charges. If I find the cheapest possible plan and use it to keep my number from this country, then people can still reach me through Signal on that number. While Signal works for most of my friends, WhatsApp, Telegram, and pretty much every other chat app works on the same basis. So, for anyone who wants to contact me, they can do so for free without worrying what country I'm in. For anyone I want to talk to, I can do so for free no matter which country I'm in. In order to keep this, I only have to pay a very basic phone bill rather than a bunch of high roaming bills. That's simpler and cheaper for everybody. I don't like WhatsApp very much and don't use it myself, but if I do move out of the country, I may have to get it for friends who don't like Signal.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
