Galong

I'm looking into Sonetel at the moment. It seems to easy to set up. It gets a lot of bad reviews, but good apps sometimes get bad reviews. I remember looking a Vykes before. I'll give that another look if Sonetel doesn't pan out. The good news is that I'm to the point where I don't really need to worry about the OTPs. So, basically, I want to be able to call my mom and US toll free numbers. The SSA, IRS, and Schwab don't require me to use my phone for verification. And, as I'm not a 12-year-old, I block anyone like Jake who talks down to me about my 'drama'. I'm far from computer illiterate. My brother and I did everything correctly. A couple of times we were on the service's 'live chat' having them walk us through it. Tello, in particular, was bad at helping. They said, "you're [my brother] in a low reception area." No, he was in a major city with 5g.

Still pulling out what little hair I have left... I bought a Tello sim and sent it to my brother in the US to activate. Tello customer support said it was active, but it never worked. That was perhaps two hours of my life wasted. My brother in the US spent a long time over several days trying to get Google Voice to work for me. He has used it in the past for work without issue. For some reason, we could not get it to work again. he was signed in on my Google account using his US IP address... we tried everything including opening 3 new accounts... nada. Next was VoIP.ms which Chat GPT recommended. OMG, what a freaking nightmare that app is. Starting with their Windows 95-ish outdated UI, nothing about this app is intuitive. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I got SMS and Voice Messages to work. To get calling to work requires a 3rd party SIP program. Tons of categories to fill out and most of them had unfamiliar terms that I had to look up. I would have to tweak my DNS, firewall, and router setting... screw that!!! Next was LocalPhone. It said from any country to any country when I signed up, then suddenly it said my 'region' was not supported. It suggested getting an 'internet phone number' through them. Then, it was a full screen of freaking coding that had to be installed to get it to work... no instructions on how to do this were included. I just looked into Viber, but the reviews turned me off. It seems highly unstable and calls get dropped. Sonetel was my next try... bad reviews there too. I have no idea what to try next.

I assume a lot of you got this email today. It contradicts EVERYTHING THAT SKYPE HAS BEEN SAYING!! This makes it sound like the web portal will remain viable/functional. If it does and I can keep my US Skype number, that's great. It even says I can add funds to my account. What do you guys/gals make of this update?

Yeah, I've still got a bit of credit $ too. I'm so pi55ed off at Skype for all of the hassle that they've caused me that I want nothing more to do with them, Teams, dial pads, web portals, or anything related. I'll call my mom and eat up what remains instead of handing it back to them or moving the money. I'm going to go with Google Voice with the help of my brother in the US to help be set it up via his mobile, then I'll stop the automatic forwarding to his mobile and make sure I ONLY use this app when I'm on WIFI. Everything is free if I do it correctly... according to everything I've read and Chat GPT. 🤞

I just bit the bullet and took the L with Tello. I deleted my account that had $20 'pay as you go' credit. There is no easy way to contact them without jumping through hoops or calling their US toll-free number. I accessed a live chat feature once, but can't find it now... what a poorly setup site! I know this is unprofessional, but when I got an email response from them when I blocked my Tello number (the only option was to say I lost it [eye roll]), I got a robotic email response. I responded: "Contact our Customer Service team" is a FAQ page, NOT CUSTOMER SERVICE! If I could actually talk to a person I might try to salvage my My Tello account. Unfortunately, you've made an enemy with your dreadful service.

Tello is crap! I bought a SIM card and had it sent to my brother's house in the US. It's a long story, but the card doesn't work. The Tello chat agent says it is activated, but it doesn't work on two of my brother's spare unlocked phones. It's proven to be a waste of a little bit of money and a LOT of time. I think I'll try Google Voice next.

Viber doesn't even seem close to a replacement for Skype for the things that matter to me, which are a US Skype number, OTPs, and calling toll-free US numbers

Yes, this truly sucks. Skype did it all. I've decided on Tello. I'm getting a US SIM card and T mobile number sent to my brother (should be there today) and he'll express it to me here. It should work in my unlocked Thai Samsung phone. I'm doing this for OTPs mainly, but it can be used for 800 numbers as well. I sure hope this works... what a time-consuming hassle this has been. 🤦

I decided to go with Tello. I ordered a US SIM today. The process went smoothly ordering it from my computer using my Thai IP address. I'm sending it to my brother's house. I'll have him activate it before posting it to Thailand. I did call Tello's toll-free number using Skype while setting everything up. Their customer service was good... immediate response, no background music, etc. The guy from Tello was very helpful. Still, it was a bit of work and all because Skype couldn't figure out how to stay in business. 🤦

Since Skype is shutting down, I'm looking at every possible option for signing into Schwab. Right now, they're fine sending me OTPs on my Thai number, but in case that ever changes I'd like an alternative. I've read good and bad things about Symantec VIP Access App. Does anyone else use this authentication app on a Thai phone? Thanks.

I've been looking ever since Skype made the announcement... NOTHING compares to Skype. I wish they would have just raised their prices or something. 🤦 My wife talked to AIS today. Calling the US is 15 baht per minute. 😲 This is for 800 numbers too. I was on Skype last night for at least an hour with one of my pension suppliers. That would have been 900 baht if I had used AIS.

Has anyone successfully migrated to Google Voice? Did you have to have help from someone in the US with a mobile phone for verification? I'm thinking of having my brother help me set it up. Google Voice seems to be one of the better options as ChatGPT said it 'usually' works with OTPs and bank codes. I rarely need that. Alternatively, has anyone used AIS and the 003 prefix to call the US (or another country)? It says 3 baht per minute. I can live with that.

Newsflash: nobody's winning. This administration is about as trustworthy as a screen door on a submarine, and both parties are too busy dunking on each other to realize the whole ship is sinking. Leadership? Nonexistent. Policies? A mess. Accountability? LOL. But sure, keep pretending one side’s total dysfunction somehow cancels out the other’s. Meanwhile, the rest of us are just trying to survive the fallout of this clown show

My guy was named Mark. It could easily be a bot, but this bot was programmed better.

Thanks a lot for the feedback on the various programs. I wonder if my Skype number can be ported to Sonetel as a landline? 🤔