Don't add so many field types spread around the selection drop down

Another option could be that in the field creation screen, "Phone" could be the field type and the various country formats could be selected in the widget. I think this would make a lot more sense in terms of the user interface. It seems that for all of the various options currently, the widget only provided as an option is "textarea", so it doesn't look like we'd be restricting any options to bump that those options to the right a dropdown.

This would be a far better way, from a user perspective. I guess it may pose some limitations depending on how the module implements the different country types though..

The suggestion of #1 is highly needed, IMO. I just activated this module the first time and couldn't believe it messed up CCK's field type selection menu with a bunch of options that most likely would never be used by most of us. Instead, the module should add only one single CCK field type "Phone number" and let the user choose the type from the widget field, which currently does not have any function (since it is always set to "Textfield").

Another alternative could be to change all the different country's phone number specifications from .inc to separate .module files, so the user can keep the unneeded countries inactivated via the modules page. Personally, I don't need any country specific field, since my users can come from anywhere in the world.

I agree, the solution in #1 would be ideal for UI/UX

Fixed in 6.2.15 version

Not seeing that behavior in 6.x-2.15. Did that patch not make it in?

I have a more general question about a single country validation pattern being tied to a particular instance of the field. Why would I want to add N fields for every possible validation type (field_phone_us_users, field_phone_uk_users, field_phone_someotherplace_users) when all I want is a single phone field? Perhaps I am missing something?

I think there are a lot of sites (including mine) that don't have only one specific country as target audience, but worldwide potential users instead. For those sites all the country specific phone fields will most likely never been used - instead they would probably only use the international phone field.

Thus, splitting up the module into two modules seems logical: one for the international format and another one for all the country specific formats.