Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

phonejanitor.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 149 posts

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#101

Post by TodPunk »

gst wrote: post #86
TodPunk wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not based on Twilio, they're quite expensive, it's built on Freeswitch and normal fully open SIP/RTP protocols and what we're doing isn't exactly complex yet. I don't have a whole lot of care about going open source or not but as far as our interface you can view source at https://phonejanitor.com/app/ and you might be pleased for the moment.

Looks like you're using Flowroute as backend service? At least that's where the number of the CEO is located.

That is our current primary for the numbers I use, yes.

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#102

Post by smcguinness »

nostromo wrote: post #55

Can it block unknown callers? The FCC doesn't allow phone companies to do that directly. It drives me nuts -- it's always spam callers. http://www.t-mobile.com/company/privacyresources.aspx?tp=Abt... > the FCC has mandated that carriers allow callers the ability to block their Caller ID information and thus place “anonymous” calls. T-Mobile is obligated to honor the privacy of the caller in these circumstances. Of co…

In the latest ruling on TCPA by the FCC they are allowing carriers to research solutions to offer their customers to allow call blocking.

See Section 9, Call Blocking Technology - https://www.fcc.gov/document/tcpa-omnibus-declaratory-ruling...

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#103

Post by angryasian »

gcb0 wrote: post #97
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 messag…

a lot of what you're saying is untrue.

1. https://support.google.com/voice/answer/1316844?hl=en you can port your number out of google voice.

2. I highly doubt google voice is going anywhere with Google's commitment to mobile.

3. The voice message app was updated last year. Yes it hasn't got the full treatment, but I assume this is because its primarily a background service. sms is done primarily through your favorite messaging app and phone calls can be made all the time through your gv number or you can choose when making a phone call.

4. You're not forced to use dialer. GV can be set to prompt you to ask you when using dialer or just use your GV number everytime. Your last point makes no sense and is completely false. I have hangouts, google voice and route my number to my phone. Calls come in through the main dialer app.

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#104

Post by amalcon »

mherdeg wrote: post #2

This sounds crazy, but I'd have a small worry that giving out your CEO's personal phone number exposes potential attacks against other services that use the phone number as a token. Like: (1) Do you have a store-loyalty program at CVS? Can I use your number when I buy stuff and get your coupons? (2) Can I re-set your Amazon.com password using live chat with customer support by convincing them that I know your name an…

When I first read this, it seemed really odd to me. Before cellphones and the Internet, nearly everyone in a region had a book with nearly everyone else's phone number in it.

How have we ended up in a situation where phone numbers are now used for authentication?

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#105

Post by rahimnathwani »

hellbanner wrote: post #56

Looks cool. I've found that asynchronous voice chat programs (WeChat got huge in China, then the West got WhatsApp, Nextel etc) make for much easier voice communication. There's zero overhead of waiting for a ring & voicemail message and a beep -- just press a button & speak. I'd love to see this integrate with phone lines but I doubt the feasibility.

I hate receiving voice messages. Sure, it's quick for the sender, but it's inconvenient for me. Reading a messages is better than listening because:

1) I can easily re-read a couple of words I didn't parse properly the first time, or which are details (like addresses).

2) I can read pretty much anywhere, without disturbing anyone around me.

3) I can read much faster than I can listen.

Thankfully, only a couple of my WeChat friends think sending voice messages is a good idea.

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#106

Post by Angostura »

To me it simply seems to destroy half the value of having a phone number.

My Bank's fraud prevention team try to call me about an unauthorised transaction? Nope.

My doctor calls me on an unlisted line? No.

My daughter's phone runs out of battery and she calls from a friend's phone to say she is going to be late?

I ask a friend to get a friend of theirs to call me about something? No.

Hopeless.

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#107

Post by [deleted] »

ooglek wrote: post #94

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…

[deleted]

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#108

Post by Netcob »

The new STEEL CRADLE protective cup will protect your most important part like it's a state secret. But don't just take our word for it - try for yourself! Our CEO, proudly joining other CEOs in putting all their trust in their company's product, is wearing a STEEL CRADLE all day long and he's walking the streets of San Francisco from 8am to 8pm, inviting you to kick him straight in the family jewels.

Wear steel-capped boots! Use a hammer! Catch him while he's least expecting it! Our CEO knows that STEEL CRADLE will give him all the protection he needs.

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#109

Post by ac29 »

lucb1e wrote: post #79

$15 a month. That's the number I was looking for but couldn't find until after creating an account and trying to add a phone number. Then a popup came for my credit card number (which I don't have) and finally, in the confirmation button, was the price. Edit: Oh, it's in the FAQ. I checked all other pages except that one (seemed logical to be under either home or features, or perhaps policies). My bad. Edit2: Giving…

> Giving the price a second thought, is this a normal fee in the US? Our landline costs just over 4 euros and the cheapest mobile subscription I've been able to find is 3.50 a month.

No, you can get mobile service for $3/month [1] with a minimal number of minutes. I didn't look too hard, its possible even cheaper plans are available.

[1] http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay-as-you-go

Re: Phone Janitor – Take control of your phone number

#110

Post by biot »

david-given wrote: post #73
joshcanhelp wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It looks terrible? Really? It's an uncluttered layout with the tl;dr description of what it actually is prominently on the front page, and with easy-to-find navigation links to everything else above --- and if you notice, the informational links are on the left, and the actionable links are on the right. To me, it's exactly what I want out of a product's website, and I wish more looked like it!

It's utilitarian to the max in that it cares little for graphical design. The layout is fairly functional, though I did initially think the menu links at the top were disabled given that the links below were classic blue underline.

I can easily see why someone would call that terrible; it looks like a time-warp back to the mid-90s when Netscape rendered the default HTML background as grey before everyone eventually standardized on a white background. You actually have to go out of your way to make the logo and menu medium grey on light grey when the same amount of effort could have been put towards a cleaner, more modern, and higher contrast look without changing the utilitarian layout.

Post reply on HN