Comment by lrvick
3 days ago
We, the users, gave them that power. We can also take it away.
You actually can lead a productive socially rich life and even run a tech company in the modern world without using any products by Google, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, etc.
There are open source alternatives to everything if we do research beyond what is advertised to us.
What kind of mobile phone do you have?
I use a VoIP account from a pocketable linux laptop when I need SMS or calling capability on the go, which is rare. It can normally wait, so I normally carry no devices at all.
Not carried a cell phone in ~5 years.
lol, unrelated to anything, but I had a police detective in my house about a year ago for something unrelated to me, though he did question me. At the end, he asked for my phone number. "Oh, I don't do phones. I've got a VOIP number if you want." He was so friendly up to that point, but then he clearly SCOWLED at me; I was so taken aback that I laughed at it.
I know this is OT for the thread, but I'd be interested in hearing how you're using VOIP, provider(s) you've used, and any interesting hacks.
I'd recently twigged that I don't want a mobile phone that forwards to, say, an Asterisk server I control, but an Asterisk server (and VOIP number(s)) I can optionally forward to a mobile or other service (e.g., possibly Jitsi Meet or Signal).
That last I could then interact with on a subnotebook laptop or tablet device. The phone would principally exist as a tether or true-emergency comms.
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