Yes, there is.
s1p !
Well let’s see how this goes. I ordered a data only sim card. Tried installing the Textnow android app which assigns a virtual number, but that app won’t work with an unlocked phone with android runtime.
I believe I have found an acceptable solution for my Sailfish device. I’m switching to a Tolla data only SIM an have installed and tested the TextFree android app from Aptoide. To get unlimited use I had to created a Google account and activate the subscription from an android device that had downloaded the app but once done it appears to work OK.
Textnow on the other hand will only run on unrooted, android native devices so its out of the question.
Skype is probably what I would have tried next.
Viber allows out calling but is per minute.
Silent Phone offers out calling but for only very limited number of minutes.
I’d be interested to hear from anyone who has successfully implemented the sip solution. Most of those providers I have looked up appear to be oriented to multiline business accounts.
If this continues to work well in real life, I’ll end up saving $50 a month over my T-Mobile unlimited postpaid plan…so I suppose I should thank them.
Wow, you are thinking outside the box. Thank you for sharing your solution. I hope to not have to go this route. It’s one thing for me, but for my wife and two of my children with Sailfish, I’d hate to have to explain all of this to them, and then support them in this. I hate working all day fixing IT stuff, then coming home to support technology until I sleep. I sincerely hope VoLTE is in the near-term from Jolla/Sony.
There are more of us than you think.
US T-Mobile MVNO Sailfish user here… going on six years now.
Here’s another US T-Mobile customer dipping my toes into Sailfish. Trying to break the 15 year habit of iPhones.
deprecated!!! I am so glad you’re still on a Sailfish device. I almost spoke of you in the numbers, but I wasn’t sure you were still hanging in there. As a fellow Chicagoland user, I hope the sheer quantity of all our devices are on the network enough that they realize they should keep 3G alive for us. Yeah, folly, I know.
Still, glad to see you’re here.
And others, greetings. It’s great to know that there are more and more Sailfish users in the U.S. I work in a somewhat geeky career field and I am ridiculed/taunted on a weekly basis when they’re doing group texts or other things on their iPhones, then they say “Ras…he has a Linux phone. He can’t do that.” Which is invariably followed up with someone asking, “Why don’t you just go get an iPhone???”
Weekly basis at least. Sometimes even more than once per day. Do you guys get the same harassment?
At least in most places, I’m there as the technical expert, so some pause and wonder if the geek in the room has a different phone, then perhaps they don’t know something that I do.
Ras my friend! Glad to see you in these parts.
It’s safe to say I’m still here.
I do. Often. Even from the more technically apt crowd. I usually respond with a laundry list of reasons why I can’t (and won’t) get an iPhone or an Android device, which is usually met with dismissal or insistence that I’ve got it wrong. Surely, since everyone else is using them, they must be the best, and are perfectly suited to everyone’s needs.
It’s rare, but occasionally (especially among privacy-minded people), someone will say something along the lines of:
“Hmm. I had no idea this existed. I’ve always been dissatisfied with the duopoly, but wasn’t aware there were alternatives. Please, tell me more!”
I’ve actually prepared a document that I either copy/paste or just link them to, which explains the what and why of Sailfish OS, and why using it is important to me. It has converted a few… not many, but enough to justify writing the document in the first place.
I hope you’re well, friend!
I don’t get harassment, per se, but I’ve never been able to convince anyone else to go with Sailfish as a daily driver.
Most of my tech-minded friends view it as a curiosity and other ‘normal’ people see it as untenable due to the steep learning curve and lack of an app store.
i work for a software company:
none of my co workers cares about privacy that much that they would accept an empty appstore, or a non perfect camera
i mean in googles history of an fried we could see him visiting his liason, and that google correctly assumes when he is driving moto bike and when car.
but they just dont care.
… and nowadays i need an app to buy an coffee, and a second to order lunch ?!
That is interesting. Have you published it as a blog post or a forum comment that you could share by any chance? I would be interested in reading that.
I think, I have succeeded in inducing some kind of curiousity in a few of my colleagues to try Sailfish OS. But most are spoilt by the convenience of Andorid and iPhones that even though they partially agree that they are probably paying with their privacy, they don’t wish to loose the ‘convenience’ on those platforms.
Privacy is an argument for very few, and to be honest the iPhone does a decent job at that. This is why, when SF originally was launched, I was happy to see one of the key features was the unique and innovative UI, rather to just slap a usual ‘free software’ style UI. Making it easy for people to approach a platform is key for allowing it to succeed.
Android, even today, has a UI I have never been able to digest, despite many attempts. It works poorly with one hand, it is complex (settings in many places, apps in many places, poor virtual tactility) and it’s just plain ugly.
But for SF to be a valid alternative, it needs to be easy to get on somewhat modern devices, and maintain easy use through the Store, innovation and UI improvements
To be a valid alternative for joe average -any OS- needs an ecosystem of apps. People want all the latest data mining apps (facebook, insta, tiktok etc) and companies only care about being in iOS and Android. And then complain about “monopolies” (see Epic games, spotify etc).
However you “can” have a successful product by having paying customers (businesses in the case of Jolla), targeting niches and building from there improving anything you can so that you have something the niche people can suggest to the joes average around them. It takes time. And SFOS has quite a few issues on its own that hold it back.
I agree on apps. That’s why Android support is essential. Perhaps even an official Android store. At the same time make development for SF native appealing and easy. It would also help if paid apps were possible