Introduction
Many services think or operate with a model that believes telephone number is a valid way to prove something like ‘Identity’ or Residency, etc. A telephone number is not a guarantee of “know your customer”, identity, or residency.
Letter To Support
Dear Gemini Support Team,
I’m unable to complete my registration at this time because the 2 Factor Auth process on your web site does not let me scan a QR code directly with the Authy app on my iOS phone. Additionally, both of my USA based phone numbers are not honored / recognized by your system, it says that they are not valid numbers. I have been using both of these numbers for calling and texting for many years now. Authy, allows me to use my mobile number without issues at all, so I find this behavior on the Gemini web site quite puzzling.
For your reference, both my mobile numbers are considered VoIP, but they are not a forwarding service, nor temporary number. I’ve had them with their current service providers for several years:
- Google Voice = 1xxx-555-1234
- Talkatone = 1xxx-555-7890
My Google Voice phone number works fine with Authy, so your site should as well. I also use this number for 2FA on several other banking related web sites, so I’m really confused.
I do not have a standard mobile phone plan that includes SMS. I have a “data only plan”. Thus I’m unable to receive text messages or place calls using the number that is assigned to my mobile device by the operator. Only wifi and mobile data are valid.
If you add “scan QR code in Authy” functionality to the registration verification process, then Gemini users such as myself will be able to complete their registration process.
If you could kindly manually approve my account I would greatly appreciate it.
Thank you for your help,
RTWM
A note about Authy
I have evalutaed “Authy App”, and I have found that it is quite shocking that it could be anything remotely even “security” related.
