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Twilio Local Numbers for Social Network Phone Verification - Other Alternatives
Does anyone know whether Google (i.e. Gmail, Google+ YouTube) and/or other social newtorks such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. are blocking Twilio local phone numbers for the purpose of account verification? We have integrated Twilio into one of our business applications and now need to setup and manage multiple Google+, YouTube, etc. accounts. Several steps or processes require phone verification (i.e. setting up a new YouTube channel; enabling the use of custom thumbnails, etc.) and we have been unable to get our Twilio numbers to receive either voice calls or SMS (we know that Google dos not support short codes) from Google. We have been going around in circles with the Twilio support folks and have now been told to contact Google support.
Are there any other working alternatives for phone verification from these services to Twilio (i.e. Plivo). Thanks!
Comments
Do you need an unique phone number for each youtube channel, etc.? Can't you just get a normal cell phone and use it for all verifications?
Just a heads up, DO NOT use Nexmo for this. Your account will get banned.
I tried textnow with google, didn't work...
Yes, We want to be able to keep and maintain a unique phone number for each account as over time, we will enable additional features and functions. The accounts are city and state specific (the largest U.S. cities). Since we will be managing communities and posting video content over a long period of time, it makes sense for us to pay for and maintain a unique phone number for each large account. We do not understand why the Twilio numbers do not handle inbound voice calls from Google. At this point, neither does anyone from Twilio. Thanks!
Why not a simply buy cheap local prepaid simcard with real number?
That is one option that we have considered for the verification process however; we have other business needs for local land lines. I do not understand why the Twilio or other similar company provided DIDs can't be used for these purposes. Thanks!
I used to register some PVAs with bulkcode.net. I tried their one-time numbers and was able to register google, fb, instagram. It's worth a trial.
Use voip.ms with a Canada number. I can personally verify the 647 numbers in toronto work.
Is that free? (like do you get the number for free)
Hi everyone. Thanks for the suggestions. One clarification: Are you suggesting to use Twilio Canadian numbers or numbers from another provider? Thanks!
I don't think that Google can differentiate between real and virtual (DID) phone numbers!
However if you take DIDs just like hosting IPs. then you will notice that a service like Google can blacklist DIDs on basis of bad usage/spam in past just like IPs.
I am sure google can figure out where a certain DID / phone number is going to and blacklist based on the destination operator, in this case they can blacklist all calls going to Twilio and other similar services if they want to.
Thanks for the great comments about IPs and DIDs. We are very aware of these issues and (fro the record) we have not in the past nor in the future are we seeking to SPAM or be involved in bad usage. The local numbers that we have acquired from Twilio will be kept by us and used for many other phone related purposes. Unless a previous owner of a particular local Twilio number was spamming and got the number blacklisted, there is nothing that we have done to cause a problem. Are any of the following possible? (1) Google is blacklisting ALL Twilio DIDs? (2) Google is not "blacklisting" but instead has taken a "white listing" approach?
1 is possible, and has happened before on other provider's DIDs.