Ask HN: Online Phones (ala Google Voice), Opinions?

1 pointnotheguyouthink0 comments

So I'm currently working on migrating my life away from Google. Not any grand reason, I just don't want to get accidentally banned and have my entire life come to a halt.

So, my progress currently is:

    Browser: Chrome -> Safari / Firefox
    Search:  Google -> Duckduckgo
    Phone:   Pixel -> iPhone (eventually)
    Email:   Gmail -> FastMail
    Phone:   Google Voice -> ???

As you can see, I'm not sure what to do for online phone. For the past.. I dunno, 10+ years? I've used Google Voice with Android. I use it on top of my normal phone, e.g. I don't use my Google Voice number of Tmobile / Verizon / etc.

This has given me a lot of simplicity, in that my cellphone provider has zero power over me. They provide a service, and I can drop them or switch them with very minimal effort. To summarize, important features to me are:

1. I can read / type SMS on my computer. 2. I can make calls from my computer, to not use cellphone minutes. 3. I can receive and make texts/calls from my phone without internet. 4. My number is not tied to my cellphone carrier. Cellphone providers provide a service, not my identity.

With that said, I've got no idea what replacements for Google Voice might be. I'm currently searching _(not Googling, .. yet, hah)_, but I figured Hackernews might be a good place to ask. After all, I heard about FastMail here :)

So, any thoughts? Are there any telephone providers that can provide a similar UX to me?

This might be one area where I just have to stick to Google. We'll see. Regardless, my goal is to limit Google's influence on my life, so using one feature of Google isn't the end of the world.

Appreciate any replies! I'll update this thread if I find/choose anything. The search goes on.

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