Hacker News Reader

Comment by ycmbntrthrwaway | Hacker News Reader

Is there any usable alternative for voice calls? Ring and Tox had problems setting up connection from android to debian linux last time I tried both of them.

I really want to replace Skype with something so I can stop using Google Play. Signal is not an option as it is only available via Google Play too.

[0] https://ring.cx/ [1] https://tox.chat/

View on HN

I've found matrix[0] to work pretty well. Main downside is that the calls themselves are not end-to-end encrypted, but there is end-to-end encryption for the call setup. Riot[1] is available via f-droid[2]. You can host your own homeserver to prevent metadata leakage if you want, and run the TURN/STUN server to setup the calls if one of both parties are behind a NAT.

[0] http://matrix.org/

[1] http://riot.im

[2] https://f-droid.org/wiki/page/im.vector.alpha

How about wire? https://wire.com

I also recommend Wire. I tried multiple alternatives for Skype and Wire was the only one which had good call quality and clients for all major platforms.

So I had a flick through the website, and I fail to understand how this service makes any money.

This automatically makes me suspicious that either they'll eventually start collecting data, or the service will disappear as soon as they are acquired.

I seem to recall that they aim for a freemium-ish model, i.e. sell extra features or charge for features designed for businesses/teams etc.

At least they explicitly promote with "No profiling or data gathering" with a link to https://twitter.com/wire/status/768797320792117248

Also they promote Spotify

Looks great, I was not aware they had open source client.

Given that they were forced to release their Axolotl (aka Signal protocol) under GPLv3+, they try to add some strange restrictions [2]:

"Additionally, if you choose to build an Open Source App, certain restrictions apply, as follows: a. You agree not to change the way the Open Source App connects and interacts with our servers ..."

As I understand I am free to ignore any additions to GPL.

[1] https://medium.com/@wireapp/axolotl-and-proteus-788519b186a7... [2] https://github.com/wireapp/wire

I read it as that only applies when you connect to their servers, and is the usage policy/Terms of Service for their servers, not a code license.

Signal is available for desktop browser, although I don't know how well works.

Linphone is a decent alternative, it supports both voice and video calls.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com