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Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

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Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#91

Post by amalcon »

eevilspock wrote: post #66
kazinator wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't have to be either-or! Ads or fees can just be different points in a price structure. Pay nothing, and be the product sold to the ad syndicate. Or pay for the service, and don't view ads. One consumers may be all "Death to ads!". But the next one might be "Gimme for free! (And I will find a way to block the ads or just live with them)." In this situation, however, it's not obvious how the service could be s…

Yes, it does. We all collectively pay for the economic and social costs of advertising. Advertising makes nothing free for anyone: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8585237 Maciej Ceglowski (idlewords) also calls for an "anti-free-software movement" in Don't Be A Free User : https://blog.pinboard.in/2011/12/don_t_be_a_free_user/ There are better ways to screen out unwanted callers. As Jeff Hammerbacher, fmr. Manag…

It's long seemed odd to me that people just accept ads. Imagine trying to explain that model to an alien familiar with the basic ideas of our economy but unfamiliar with ads as a primary revenue model:

"Well, say you want something from me, but you don't want to pay the amount I ask for it. Instead, you give a larger amount of money to a third party. The third party gives it to a fourth party, who gives it to me. I try to manipulate you into seeing the third party as more valuable, so you'll give them more money in the future. I do what you want in exchange for you putting up with this."

"Didn't it just cost me a larger amount of money that way? Because of all the intermediaries?"

"Well yes, but everyone just pretends to not know that. Oh, and this is the dominant revenue model for several large industries."

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#92

Post by niyazpk »

tekromancr wrote: post #87
michaelmcmillan wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it's sufficient to create a service people want. Personally I don't really care if it's fancy SPA or a simple website with actual form elements. I just want software to work.

Could you please elaborate what you mean by "SPA". I am unfamiliar with the term, but google only returns results related to massage and nail-care services, which DOES kinda make sense in your context, but I am not sure.

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Single-page_application

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#93

Post by marincounty »

jzawodn wrote: post #71
joshcanhelp wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking "ugh, this looks terrible" and read all of the copy as well.

How odd that I didn't really "notice" the look. This sounds like a useful service that fits in an area where Google Voice totally dropped the ball and Burner hasn't gone yet.

I don't mind the look either. I don't mind B & W sites. (I am partially color blind, so maybe that's a factor?). Even with photography, most of my pictures are in B & W.

I wouldn't pay $15/month. I would accept one targeted ad per week? While I won't use this service, I need to know how it works. I have a weekend project?

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#94

Post by ooglek »

Damn, $15/month per line? At least Tarsnap is pay-as-you-go. Seems way too expensive. TossableDigits.com (1) starts at $3.49/month per number and pay per minute, with plans that drop in price as you ramp up. Pretty much the same service without the all-in pricing. And you get unlimited SMS, Voicemail and Call Recording. They've been in business since 2006 -- staying power. (2)

They also are offering Robocall Blocking -- a huge win. (3)

(1) https://www.tossabledigits.com/pricing.php

(2) https://www.tossabledigits.com/aboutus.php

(3) https://www.tossabledigits.com/blog/introducing-robocall-blo...

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#96

Post by TodPunk »

cryptophreak wrote: post #70

It’s unfortunate that SMS isn’t supported—that’s practically the only reason I still have a phone, and the entire reason I’d want this service is to block all calls, excepting the ones I’ve specifically authorized.

Oh how I want that support. Our trunk providers at the moment say they've got it coming and then we just turn it on after testing it, but until then we're at their mercy. Don't forget MMS in there, too. That's a huge gotcha for some systems.

Someday we'll all be allowed to have nice things.

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#97

Post by gcb0 »

mcherm wrote: post #90

So... Google Voice, but not free, and run by a small company that might fail, taking your phone number with them? Might be interesting. The "not free" part is a BENEFIT in my mind, and your other post ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9943660 ) tried to address the riskiness.

better than google. which actually owns your google voice number. and the chance of google just shutting down a service they can't show text ads on is much, much higher than some company shutdown (instead of being bought by the google or facebook).

google is already dropping the ball on google voice.

the app has no updates since android 2.3. just so you understand how behind it is... the app cannot support two messages in the notification. after you get the second message, instead of the usual two lines in the notification as with SMS or any other app, you get the literal text "2 messages".

if you cave in and use hangouts for SMS, you then have to use hangouts dialer... which is a still-born app. for example, if you route your calls to your regular phone AND gtalk (i think the gvoice UI still calls hangout as gtalk) then your phone rings for both things at the same time! and you never know which one you are answering when you swipe right.

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#98

Post by eevilspock »

amalcon wrote: post #91
eevilspock wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it does. We all collectively pay for the economic and social costs of advertising. Advertising makes nothing free for anyone: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8585237 Maciej Ceglowski (idlewords) also calls for an "anti-free-software movement" in Don't Be A Free User : https://blog.pinboard.in/2011/12/don_t_be_a_free_user/ There are better ways to screen out unwanted callers. As Jeff Hammerbacher, fmr. Manag…

It's long seemed odd to me that people just accept ads. Imagine trying to explain that model to an alien familiar with the basic ideas of our economy but unfamiliar with ads as a primary revenue model: "Well, say you want something from me, but you don't want to pay the amount I ask for it. Instead, you give a larger amount of money to a third party. The third party gives it to a fourth party, who gives it to me. I t…

Thanks for that great analogy! I'm trying to articulate the problem in easier to follow ways. I've been wanting to depict it in the dreaded infographic.

Care to help with the words or the graphic? I'm going to start website for this. If anyone knows of a great website already focused on articulating the problem with ads, let me know. Email me!

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#99

Post by ttctciyf »

aresant wrote: post #34

I think it's a stroke of genius to launch something so aesthetically terrible on HN / PH (aka the early adopter crowd). For a group of people that see a dozen bootstrap / sandwhich vid style launches a week this stands out, and got me to read 3 paragraphs of ad-copy. Other notable examples of this launch strategy, intentional or not, in recent memory were Pud launching DistroKid (1) and the team behind Magic (2) I th…

The page aesthetics work for me - I particularly liked the absence of three USP divs under the lede (though the illuminoid-friendly logo was a close second..)

Hey, feature idea - riffing off the now overdue but unlikely to happen call flag for non-human callers, how about a voice-recognised audio-captcha before you're put through during open hours?

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#100

Post by justizin »

kazinator wrote: post #63
eevilspock wrote: post #37

From the FAQ: Why isn't it free? So many things are free! This is a question we're surprised to get as often as we do. The short answer is we want to run an actual stable business so people know we're profitable and can meet their needs. We don't think someone's phone number is something we would trust to anyone but a business that will be there tomorrow. We also think it's a better relationship if we're trying to se…

It doesn't have to be either-or! Ads or fees can just be different points in a price structure. Pay nothing, and be the product sold to the ad syndicate. Or pay for the service, and don't view ads. One consumers may be all "Death to ads!". But the next one might be "Gimme for free! (And I will find a way to block the ads or just live with them)." In this situation, however, it's not obvious how the service could be s…

> Ads or fees can just be different points in a price structure.

Tell that to the various for-pay services which have decided to force ads onto paying users because, frankly, it's so fucking convenient that there's already an apparatus which is simply disabled for some people!

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