What part of the feature set in particular has been lacking in competitors?

EDIT: asking because I've been working on an alternative of sorts. I used GV a lot before I figured I could go without it/Google.

I have one page with my full history of text messages, full transcription of all voice messages, contacts information connected with every number, and I can search everything. I can configure which of my phones ring.

And, possibly most importantly to me right now, my current phone has only a data connection and I make and receive calls using the Voice app. I think SIP eats too much battery and data and doesn't work well for wifi<->lte switching, but it's been a long time since I used it much.

I'm not sure what the OP does, but at least for me I find myself chained to Google Voice for SMS 2FA use because it's basically the only phone number provider that cannot be exploited with a sim swap attack (same deal with Google Fi). And while I don't necessarily trust Google, their account security is leagues ahead of anyone else imo.

I previously looked at jmp.chat but they didn't really inspire confidence on the security front.

My use cases include 2FA and I like the added security that Voice provides, but it's not really added security, it's just moving the risk from your cell provider to Google. IMHO, Google does security better than the cell providers do.

I like the muti-platform integration of Voice. I use it on my iPad, on my Android phone, and mostly from my desktop. It works well on all platforms.

When I'm at home, I mainly use my VoIP phones. GV forwards to them, and they spoof my GV numbers when I make outgoing calls.

I like the spam text and call protections that GV provides. I believe they're partnered and integrated with Nomorobo.

I also have jmp.chat. It has capabilities that GV doesn't have, but it's not well integrated. (I use Cheogram on my Android phone, but there's no easily usable client on my iPad, or my desktop.)

> it's just moving the risk from your cell provider to Google

Yeah and imo Google has better account access controls than any other mobile provider, especially if you enroll in the Advanced Protection Program.

The main downside of GV that I didn't have with jmp.chat is that numbers are almost guaranteed to be detected as VOIP which sucks but whatever.

Not affiliated and never used them, but Cape (https://www.cape.co/) says they protect against SIM swaps with private keys.

I've been using voip.ms for over a decade, they have a great feature set and are very affordable.

I took a look at their complete feature set: https://voip.ms/features#features_filters

I don't like they way they've made it harder for me to see what they actually offer vs. what I offer myself (with my FreePBX VoIP client). I wish they would (maybe on a separate page) show the capabilities of their SIP trunk. E.g. Does it support SMS? Does it support video calling? Does the client require a static IP? Etc.