Hi all! I’m looking for a service where I can port my phone number, and then make and receive phone calls and SMS, all over data, not cell service. My particular use case is that I live in Germany, but I still have a US phone number, and occasionally need to receive SMSes or phone calls on that number.
I am aware that Google Voice offers this service, but as you can probably guess given that I’m here, I am unwilling to use it :). I saw JMP here: https://lemmy.world/post/1033514, but TBH, I don’t think that it will give me the experience that I’m looking for, given that it seems to translate everything back to generic Jabber.
Edit: Thank you all for the suggestions! I have decided to go with VoIP.ms: I tested it today, and am working on transferring my number to them now.
I’ve also used VoIP.ms. Making and receiving calls is possible but requires setting up a SIP client app on your phone. Getting the settings right can be tricky.
Thanks! I found the instructions here, which don’t seem too hard: https://blog.voip.ms/voip-on-cell-phones-ios-and-android/
But otherwise, VoIP.ms looks pretty much like what I’m looking for. It also seems super super cheap for my needs (keep a phone number alive, make a few calls or SMSes per year).