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5 tweets,
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1/ There seems to be one small but critically important hole in the live-and-work-anywhere model: how to receive security codes via SMS for US-based banks and other accounts
2/ First I ported my US phone number to @NumberBarn, which charges $10/mo to route any received SMS messages to your email. That worked well but I couldn't actually make or receive voice calls on that number
3/ So then I ported from NumbeBarn to @OpenPhoneApp, which also charges $10/mo to make voice calls completely transparent from US callers' point of view. It works great...except it doesn't seem to receive automated text messages (but does receive normal ones)
4/ US banks require a US-based phone number as a security measure, so basically you're held hostage by US mobile carriers (which are quite a bit more expensive than foreign ones) just to be able to access your own accounts
5/ Our only solution currently is to keep Lauren's phone on a US carrier (which thankfully has free roaming in Mexico) and I use a Mexican number. But this is a pretty ridiculous situation that as far as I can tell has no clear-cut solution
