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Do you really still need to dial? Haven’t all the persons you call a computer (smartphone!) with free VoIP capabilities?
by chmars 8y ago
Do you really still need to dial? Haven’t all the persons you call a computer (smartphone!) with free VoIP capabilities?
- newsbinator 8y agoIn North America, it's unusual to ask for a business person's WhatsApp or Telegram or whatever. These contacts are not often published or shared for work. It's more common to receive their landline extension or cell phone number. When establishing a business relationship, saving a few cents by trying to figure out mutual VoIP options isn't worth the friction and lost opportunities.
- artemisbot 8y agoAren't Whatsapp and telegram both tied to your cell phone number though?
- et-al 8y agoThe use case is: traveler in _______ country uses Skype to call local numbers. Be it a local restaurant, or a new business contact.
- et-al 8y agoIt's very possible people are calling relatives or friends whose landline offers a more reliable connection than their internet. And if having a conversation, I'd rather have an uninterrupted voice conversation than a mediocre video call that drops every 3 minutes.
- Tor3 8y agoWhen I'm in Japan and want to talk with my insurance company, bank, or airline over on the other side of the world, there's just one way: A phone number. Which is the (main) reason I'm still using Skype. There are other, and sometimes better, alternatives for video/chat/group chats/photos etc. But still nothing that competes with Skype's phone support, although Skype in general has degenerated a lot since the early days.
- kingosticks 8y agoIs viber still around? I used to use that.
- Tor3 8y agoviber is still operating. But I've never used it. Their landline calling system is 'package'-based, unlike the very straight forward Skype setup. On viber's web site there's not even a simple way of listing the countries they support. You have to 'search' for a country, and then you get an offer of various packages to use. Way too much hassle, and too limited (you have to buy a 'package' for each country you want to call. Not very convenient). For ordinary chats, groups, video conversations, file / movie / photo / album sharing etc. I use Naver Line, as nearly every Japanese do as far as I can tell.
- newsbinator 8y agoVery popular in Eastern Europe.
- jackson1way 8y agoI use Google Voice For the same reason! It‘s even better: it has a free US phone number. So my insurance could call me on that number while I‘m in Japan.
- Tor3 8y agoGoogle Voice as a service is limited to the US and Canada, so if you're a North American it's a good alternative I guess. Otherwise, not so much.
- conquistadog 8y agoI find that GV is also excellent at inbound robocall and spam rejection, FWIW.
- hycaria 8y agoWhat about regular phone, landlines and stuff + email for pictures and so on ? This alternative still exists afaik. Some telecom companies even have offers for calling abroad if you move a lot.