Oh, memories!
I've had my Google / Gmail account for over 20 years now. I can't even find the original date of when I've had my account now. I remember way back, Gmail used to be invite only! And if I recall correctly, I bought a Gmail invite on eBay for something like twenty dollars. A gigabyte of storage sounded insane back then. And all of this for "free" (something something if a product is free you are the product blah blah).
I remember having a fairly secure password for all those years. And also being sure to keep the password unique to Gmail and to not use it across websites. Then two factor authentication came along around 2010. Cell phones became ubiquitous by then so it was an easy way to add an extra layer of security. Then not too long after that, authentication codes from an app added yet another layer of security. Then you have a set of "backup codes" that Google tells you to print and keep somewhere. It seemed like getting into a Google account would be like something out of Mission Impossible.
You're on your own
I also recently switched cell phone providers, though I'll admit that this particular company's customer service is truly lacking, in exchange for a fancy app to manage your plan, a very self guided onboarding experience, and a bargain basement subscription price for what is essentially the same quality of cell service as the big names. It's very much like the Gmail customer service experience. You're not going to get a lot of hand holding when things go wrong.
