wolfinthewoods @ wolfinthewoods @lemmy.ml

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2 wk. ago

I've been thinking about this a lot recently as well. I decided that I wanted to ditch using any cell carrier in favor of a VoIP provider. I made a post here: https://lemmy.ml/post/26192657.

The two recommendations that came up the most were voip.ms and jmp.chat. Both require at least $15 to get started but you can port your old number over to both services too. From there jmp.chat is $5 a month, which comes with unlimited texts and 120 min a month.

With voip.ms the call and messaging is subtracted from your balance at a predetermined rate (per min and per text) which I haven't worked out the math on how much mileage $15 will get you initially.

From what I could see jmp.chat looked like it was the easier option to setup, with the Cheogram app for your phone and a Jabber app for the computer. Here's a wiki entry detailing how to setup jmp.chat: https://kb.above.im/jmp-chat/

I settled on discontinuing my mint service and setting up jmp.chat on my phone and computer, and then supplementing the limited minutes via Signal for calling. Seems like a pretty good alternative to me. I still have a week left on my phone plan, and then I'll be taking the plunge. I'd been using my phone less and less lately so it wont be too much of a shock, and I'll save myself an extra $20/month going from the $25 mint plan to $5/month jmp.chat plan.

After looking around their website I found the info on SMS. I do like that it has a minimum pay of $5, both VoIP.ms and JMP require $15 to start. Although, I saw for SMS KeepCalling directs you to their app on the play store. I wonder if it is possible to use their SMS service with a third party app? I would like to avoid using apps from the Play Store if I can help it. Otherwise, it might be a viable option to try out with such a low barrier to entry. I'm still leaning JMP since it seems like the easiest to setup and use between mobile and desktop (MX Linux in my case, using the Gajim app).

Ah, that's a clever way to circumvent minutes. Signal can only call other Signal users, right? So, if I wanted to call my mom, for instance, she'd need to get Signal? It's been a sec since I used it.

Does KeepCalling have SMS included?

JMP did look like it was much more straightforward to setup than VoIP.ms. The configuration of VoIP.ms looked pretty bewildering from reading the wiki. My only concern with JMP was the minutes. From what I read it said it was unlimited text but only 120 min/month. Is that accurate?