Might I suggest a VoIP provider? It costs money, yes, but since you are using your real number on VoIP, you can routinely switch carriers to get new customer deals. For example, I pay $15/month for unlimited data and $5/month to JMP.chat. JMP gives me unlimited text, 2 hours of voice, and voice is less than a cent/min after that is used. I was paying $40/month before for unlimited (still capped after 10 GB). JMP doesn’t require personal information (though they will know if you port an outside number and your phone number is public no matter what, so…). You can lie about your name and address to Mint (though I recommend putting a hotel address near you to comply with regional taxes for your payment plan. They’ll know your approximate location anyway).

But why would you REALLY do this? Decoupling the phone number you actually use from your SIM card/eSIM is powerful. Everyone who wants to know your phone number can, especially if you live in the US. People search sites are crazy. Even barring that, you give it to the government, job applications, credit card companies, banks, random restaurants, tech companies (even if you are privacy conscious now you probably gave it to Google, Apple, and Microsoft at one point). Your SIM shows your approximate location, which can be legally pulled by the government. Stalkers, PIs, and bounty hunters can and do bribe carriers for this info as well. Unless you have a degoogled phone, your texts are likely being scanned by Google or Apple (look into the way they are blurring nude photos in texts unless your age is verified and asking you if you’re sure you want to send or open them).

VoIP protects you from this, and also prevents targeted SIM swaps. You can also get multiple numbers (for JMP it is half price) if you need a work phone number, or for dating new people, restaurants, calling anonymously, etc.

Downsides: Some websites won’t accept VoIP numbers. One government website even wouldn’t allow me to verify with my number that was previously not VoIP, but was the only number I had used, and therefore the only way to verify.

If you talk on the phone a lot it can get pricey. But you should really be using something like Signal for anyone who you frequently talk to. Traditional voice, SMS, RCS, and even iMessage are all terrible for privacy & security, and should essentially be treated as a public social media post that you can’t delete.

If your phone is carrier locked, it is nearly pointless: larger carriers require personal info so you don’t gain much anonymity, nor can you save money. If your phone is not degoogled, it is also a lot less useful since Google has your (much more accurate) location data. However, if you don’t have a Google account tied to your real name (or don’t use one at all) it still may be worth it.