Check out Magic Jack. you can carry it everywhere in the world and keep your phone number.

Well playmates, just filed my taxes with Turbotax, and all the SMS validation codes worked a treat with my new bright n shiny Google Voice number

I did not say you cannot use it from outside the US. I said you cannot reach the GV control panel, if you need to change some settings, access SMS, etc.

No VPN, TOT ADSL:

I'll also mention that if you are using GV to get codes by SMS for online banking or such, they sometimes do not go through.

So far 100% success rate for SMS notifications:

Langsuan, I'm with you on this. I just tried both with and without VPN, both get me access to my google voice menu.

On the question of getting SMS messages, 100% so far. I changed my default SMS client on my phone to the google client, get all SMS's, real phone, google voice all in one place

Google voice sounds good to try.