Tried to log in to an old gmail account. Remembered my password perfectly. But it asked for a confirmation code from an old phone number I no longer have (something it never did before). No alternative recovery options.

This is why I keep shilling decentralized social recovery.

If you pay for Google One for a month, you can talk to a live human for customer support and they might be able to help

Software Engineer @ Cadence Design Systems. B4: Stanford EE / Illinois ECE

Nope. That's not how the system for consumer Gmail works. It's 100% automated. Google Support can't help. It's technically impossible.

Exactly, if it's just some issues with the service, then you can get good help, but if you locked yourself out, and can't verify your identity with the existing methods, then you will not get in.

Google One gives you live human support, it's one of the features they advertise, I referred a friend when he had an account issue with Youtube Music for his family and they ended up fixing it for him.

But I agree generally, it's not a shortcut through their security practices, and if you don't pay, you get nada