On the subject of long-distance communications (following my recent WhatsApp-ian conversion). And then I added something a little less annoying and quite satisfying: a debating project.
And as you can see above, they’re even commenting on my blog via this app.
And not long after joining, I started getting random messages almost from the antipodes (the country code above belongs to Bangladesh).
I even got one from some Indian dude who must’ve thought I’m a very hairy princess.
* * *
Alright, my computer just installed the latest version of Windows 10 Enterprise (build 9879, from 9860) and has rebooted. On with our regular programming.
The app is not bad, meaning that you can send photos and voice messages, it has no ads, it’s free for the first year and $1.99 (or .99, can’t remember) yearly thereafter. It is slick and a pleasure to use. However, for me it solves a non-existent problem. I can already receive messages at all my VoIP numbers and can easily send free SMS in North America. I can also send in a few other countries, but not so easily. The problem with my European friends is that they are all dependent upon apps such as this one. That makes sense for those who never travel to North America, but I have a few who do, and they are equally enslaved.
The problem my WhatsApp friends don’t seem to get is that to ask somebody to join your church, no matter how fun and cool it is, is rather rude. People communicate via phone numbers and when you have a phone number it doesn’t matter what the other person is using to send you something, you’ll get it anyway. You just give your number away, it’s up to them to get it. Now, for my European friends, the problem is that Europe does not have a unique country code the way Canada & USA do, so although I could easily get European phone numbers in each country my friends live in, it’s a bit expensive to get one in each (it’s cheap, but the costs add up). However, since it is so easy to get one in North America and it is also free, you can get one such number and then communicate freely with your North American friends and not only, without requiring them to get any app.
- If you want to get quasi-free talks and SMS in North America WITH A PHONE NUMBER, get Google Voice (you need to do so from an IP in USA and with an existing USA phone number, there are quite a few tutorials that show you how). My Google Voice number is +1-404-9BONOBO. However, keep in mind that Google is giving signs that Voice will be retired or melted into another product, such as Hangouts. One very cool thing with using Google Voice is that you can SMS from both an Android or iPhone app as well as your computer, in a simple browser window, which is a big deal for me since I hate typing on the phone, but I’m cool with typing on the computer.
- Get your own VoIP service. I get mine at EZvoip, but there are many others. Skype for instance, though through a proprietary standard, offers a rather expensive SkypeOut service, while MagicJack offers something lost in a labyrinth of commercials.
- VoxOx, Fongo and ePhone get quite close to free calls and even free fax mailboxes. They tend to be better at free incoming and not so good for outgoing calls.
- If you want free SMS to both send and receive, try TextPlus or HeyWire (the latter offers it in the entire North America). They are free with commercials, but you can also go without by paying a little bit extra (in which case you can get cheaper services from other providers).
And here’s a few more personal messages, which also happen to be exceedingly funny..
The first link below, in Sources, is a debating project for kids in Romanian high-schools. I ain’t doin’ dat 4 free no mo’. The next were added after my conversation in the comments with Krossfire.
Sources / More info: tir-db84s, wiki-pp, wiki-ne, mc-pop, npr-art, ind-fb, [nber-welfare], [block-ppinnm], acad-eff, [ut-florian], birke-socialnet
),
lucrand la fatada (),
me-myself-and-i ()
. Dacă ţi-a plăcut articolul, PinIt-uieste-l, ReddIt-eaza-l, stumble-uieste-l altora, trimite-l pe WhatsApp
yMess şi consideră abonarea la fluxul RSS sau prin email. Ma poti de asemenea gasi pe Google. Trackback
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