Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number • Hacker News Board

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#131

Post by cnst » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 4:36 AM UTC

I don't see how exactly it is different from Google Voice, other than requiring 15$/mo (x12 is 180 USD per annum!) for seemingly the same service (except GV also has SMS support, as well as Voice-to-Text and many other useful features like automatic crowdsourced spam blocking).

Heck, even doing PAYG with the unlocked SIP providers like Anveo and would seemingly provide the same feature set, at a lower price.

HECK, THEY DON'T EVEN SUPPORT SMS! Seriously, they aren't even in the same league as Google Voice or Anveo! Next!

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#132

Post by magnusss » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 4:51 AM UTC

Line2 (www.line2.com) has decent inbound call screening capabilities similar to Phone Janitor, plus lots more for the same $14.95/month: Outbound calling from your private number, auto-attendant, unlimited SMS, and apps for Android and iOS win WiFi calling so you don't burn minutes. Seems like that would be your real competition.

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#133

Post by dredmorbius » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 5:08 AM UTC

cnst wrote: post #131

I don't see how exactly it is different from Google Voice, other than requiring 15$/mo (x12 is 180 USD per annum!) for seemingly the same service (except GV also has SMS support, as well as Voice-to-Text and many other useful features like automatic crowdsourced spam blocking). Heck, even doing PAYG with the unlocked SIP providers like Anveo and would seemingly provide the same feature set, at a lower price. HECK, TH…

Well, it's not Google, for one.

That company already knows far too much about me.

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#134

Post by dredmorbius » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 5:13 AM UTC

TodPunk wrote: post #117

jessaustin wrote: post #116

We also conform to law enforcement inquiries only where legally required, and with notification to the account owner of any and all inquiries legally allowed. This is precise wording! Sort of refreshing; I can't recall seeing anything like this from my mobile provider. We do not delete call records actively, and we keep history of where a number has been provisioned. We do this for support and analytics purposes as a…

We don't keep much data around for a CDR, just who called, what time, and what happened to it. Even my number hasn't generated more than 1K of data thus far. I don't see that being a big problem for 10 years of someone's line data. We can change the wording on that, but there is a requirement for when a number is active or not and who it is attached to, and there's some significant liability if we can't say where a n…

just who called, what time, and what happened to it. Even my number hasn't generated more than 1K of data thus far. I don't see that being a big problem

It's enough that I'd prefer to have a sunset / data retention limit. Somewhere from 3-18 months, preferably on the shorter end of the scale.

I've also been looking for UI / features, haven't found that yet on the site.

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#135

Post by dredmorbius » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 5:16 AM UTC

trjordan wrote: post #9

I like the control. I wouldn't use it. Why? The CEO of PhoneJanitor is no longer reachable by a bunch of people in ways that I find useful. The associated at the VC firm that wants to follow up on funding this company? Denied. The CVS courtesy number reminding him his prescription is ready for pickup? Never gets through. His wife borrows a friends phone after hers dies? Can't even leave a voicemail. It's one way to d…

A message giving alternate contact (I prefer email) should work for that.

The situation of people being overwhelmed by phone access is known and rising.

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#136

Post by jakejake » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 5:23 AM UTC

Congrats on launching! Can you call out from a phone janitor number as well? It sounds great, but if I return a call then they have my real, unfiltered number.

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#137

Post by dredmorbius » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 5:40 AM UTC

What's the UI/UX like? Screenshots / video / explanations of mobile, Web, phone, voice, etc., interactions would be useful.

This is very much the sort of thing I'd love but:

1. How do I add/remove numbers especially when not at a full desktop, etc?

2. How do I bulk add/remove numbers? Being able to download/upload lists would be a plus.

4. Data retention generally. Both in terms of my being able to export it, and on your retaining data. I really don't need YAN metadata store of my call history. Not for any longer than it takes to transact basic functionality.

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#138

Post by Karunamon » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 5:59 AM UTC

Serious question - how does this compare to Google Voice? As described, their main feature is something that GV has had since it was GrandCentral.

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#139

Post by eevilspock » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 7:17 AM UTC

rsync wrote: post #128

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…

"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/" His examples and his cause have nothing at all to do with free software. It's an almost comically clumsy misnomer.

By "free" he means as in “free beer” not as in “free speech”, i.e. not what RMS means by "free software".

When he writes "anti-free-software movement", he is purposefully playing with the ambiguity of the term[1] and playing off the FOSS movement's use of the term. He does so tongue-in-cheek, but for clarity I should not have quoted that part. My mistake.

"Don't Be A Free User" means don't be a user that doesn't pay. He is also specifically speaking of services, not software: "I love free software and could not have built my site without it. But free web services are not like free software."

All of the examples he gives are of services that had no revenue.

That said, I just realized that I made a second mistake. I missed an important detail in his post. He writes at the end, "Make them charge you or show you ads." So obviously he's arguing that you should use services with a revenue-based business model and he is ok if that business model relies on ad revenue. He's only arguing against using services with a non-revenue, buy-out exit strategy. He is not making a "Be the customer, not the product" argument that I thought he was. I'm disappointed that Maciej isn't a part of the no ads movement, at least at the time he is writing this. I will have to talk to him :)

-

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software_(disambiguation)

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#140

Post by ttctciyf » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 8:48 AM UTC

TodPunk wrote: post #123

ttctciyf wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Doable, but voice recognition is severely lacking outside of targeted small dictionaries, and a simple wav file can beat it. I wouldn't rely on it for a long while.

I meant like a varying question - "which is not an animal - zebra, teapot, monkey, .." so yeah, if your AI can pick the right wav file it's beatable..