Suppose my UK telephone number is +44 1234 567 890 and suppose I travel a lot to the USA for business and/or pleasure. It might be nice to have a US number as well so my contacts there don't have to dial the 44 international dialling code and pay international rates. That is easily done with call forwarding services, or by getting a US sim and putting it into a dual-sim phone, or other methods that I won't go into here in boring and excrutiating detail with multiple examples and detailed lists of the cost-benefit analyses that could or even have been done upon these and other comparable as well as irrelevant situations and circumstances and also with links to studies and comparison websites. No.

What I propose is that I should be able to request the number +1 1234567890 from the US telephone system. I might also like to have +33 1234567890 from the French system, etc. etc. from whatever countries in the world I want to have a number for.

Now that all the systems are computerised it should be simple to arrange. If another person happens to have the number I want, they can be compensated.

Fees could be charged.

There could be a secondary market in desirable numbers.

Perhaps there could be a requirement to prove that you hold the requested number in one other national system before another country approves your request.
-- pocmloc, Dec 11 2019

honestly I've taken to using WhatsApp, skype etc on mobile have all but eliminated this kind of need
-- theircompetitor, Dec 11 2019


It's not for you, it's for other people
-- pocmloc, Dec 11 2019


Wouldn't +1 +44 1234 567 890 from the USA system be less intrusive?, to not take an States number and indicate an Englishman in America.
-- wjt, Dec 14 2019



random, halfbakery