Alternatives to cell-phones? - for those who can't have a cell-phone because nature n'sheeit.

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Sanshain

Sanshain

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So I have a fairly unique issue. I have a family of people who insist on living places the people of buttfuck: nowhere go when the stress of living in a crowded modern environment gets to them. Several live in an extremely remote valley that has cable internet access, but no cellphone signal at all.

The issue is that they constantly run into major issues trying to do anything that requires 2-factor authentication or texting via mobile. Recently it became mandatory for bank transactions to be verified via cellular phone, and they already tried and failed to get an exemption. Every single bank requires this, and land-lines are not an option. They need a way to get text messages or they don't get those services.

This is fucking retarded and is making their lives hell, and my life hell whenever I visit them. Does anyone here know of any way to get a valid cellphone number and SMS service working via the internet, or any way to 'fake' cellular 2-factor auth and messaging via an internet connection? Just last month I had to spend well over three hours trying to get verification for a credit card transaction that would've taken less than 30 seconds anywhere else. I'm even willing to consider expensive options, just so long as they work.
 
I don't know the answer, but it might help if you said what country they live in.
 
Why not just use a Google Voice number? You can send and receive SMS using the computer.
 
Maybe MySudo?

I have never ever used this so I can't speak from firsthand experience, but I was interested in it for paranoid nut reasons. (Can you blame me when I'm a user of this site and the registration page has a big warning on it?). I just never followed through because the android version is less fully featured than Apple.

One of the things it offers is additional phone numbers, but you have to pay for those. $1/month or $10/year.

It wasn't there last time I looked at it, but their FAQ seems to imply they have a web version in the works. I assumed it ran on the internet in the first place, but if by chance the app is just a super forwarder through your real phone number, the web version should definitely use the internet.
 
Are apps like Authy an option? That's more secure than SMS or email 2FA anyway, and it will work as long as you've got an internet connection. If it absolutely has to be done over SMS, then I guess something like Google voice would be the simplest option.
 
MarkofdaBOOG dijo:
I was going to say textnow but I don't think you can use text now for 2 step authentication. I tried using a textnow number for some online stuff and it didn't work out for me.
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This is true, more and more services are blocking TextNow numbers, worth trying though, some still allow them.
It really is a fucking shame that you need SMS 2FA everywhere and they go out of their way to make you use your real phone number. Has to be one of the worst parts of the modern web.
 
Depending on where you live, some banks provide offline code generators for the extra paranoid. It's like a one-time pad in a super low tech device with a keypad and a battery. As for everything else, quite a lot of online services are now wary of things like Google Voice, so YMMV.
 
You could use Google Voice or use a satellite phone (a VERY expensive option, only works in certain conditions, etc.), it might also help if they have wifi calling enabled, as this would allow them to send and receive texts over wifi (Very cheap or free)
 
Everyone suggesting the various VoIP/texting apps hasn't actually tried them for this purpose, they almost never never for 2FA and the like. Which is unfortunate because while I have cell service I'm not far off from being so rural as to not so I feel your pain here when it comes to friends. I know plenty who have to drive to the end of the road if not much worse. It is mega shitty of companies to do this but just another way that non-bugmen are increasingly forgotten.
 
wharf rat dijo:
Everyone suggesting the various VoIP/texting apps hasn't actually tried them for this purpose, they almost never never for 2FA and the like. Which is unfortunate because while I have cell service I'm not far off from being so rural as to not so I feel your pain here when it comes to friends. I know plenty who have to drive to the end of the road if not much worse. It is mega shitty of companies to do this but just another way that non-bugmen are increasingly forgotten.
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You can find VOip that works, I believe most of the censoring of these things Google and the other big tech companies try is just attempting to ban every single number on the public/free services. If you can find good paid ones then you could probably bypass this, and I have heard of cases where it works but I have not managed it myself. They might be getting smarter about how they filter anything they don't want though.
 
Just get a modern cellphone that supports "Wifi calling". Then you can use the WIFI on the CATV internet to make calls and SMS.

ATT, TMO, VZN all support it now.

Wi-Fi Calling from T-Mobile

Learn how to extend your coverage with Wi-Fi Calling! Call and text on Wi-Fi networks using your T-Mobile phone number.
www.t-mobile.com


community.verizon.com

Do Text Messages Work Over Wifi Calling?

We have no signal where we are. When connected to WiFi calling will we be able to receive/send text messages that are not iMessages over WiFi calling? do text messages work over WiFi calling?
community.verizon.com community.verizon.com

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Most pre-paid plans support it (It saves them money using your internet vs paying the carrier for LTE data) so you could just get a cheap plan. This thread on howardforums suggest the TMO Connect plans support it.

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TMO is really hit or miss about provisioning phones for WiFI calling. Your path of least resistance may be to just buy the phone from them directly rather then BYOD.

I am just going to assume you live in the US. If not fuck you for leaving out vital information. If you live in some shithole country that still uses GSM then this wont work. WIFI calling is a modern VoLTE network thing. VoLTE is basically just SIP VOIP anyways. So it really doesn't care what the transport is as long as the connection is good enough for voice. Not so much raw data rate but jitter and latency.

PRE-"WIFI CALLING" days solution:
Get a cellphone plan then port that mobile cell number to a SIP provider like Callcentric and then you can use any SIP client that supports SMS on your PC or tablet.
 
Última edición:
Not the answer you're looking for, but I think this is a great business idea.
A company could verify that a consumer don't have cellular service, and then they could act as a proxy by maintaining phone lines for them.
 
You can buy Confluence connections that create a micro cell from some providers but you may need to talk to support at a high level for them to be aware of it as a option, what they normally consist of is a small router looking device you plug in to your router via a Cat5 place it somewhere in the home and then forward a port to it this creates a small cell for the mobile network with a limited range of I think 100m

Now if they are totally off grid and don't have a fixed line connection then things get weird, you can look for CB Radio data connectors but they need someone in range to have one connected to the internet in some way and the latency sucks.

Another option for this is expensive but viable is a Satphone with local numbers, you can find a Satphone provider that also ties a local number in a country or area you select that will deleiver and send SMS messages, and low speed data but that gets really costly fast and there is also some data loss.

Another more long term option is having an evaluation made by the people who regulate mobile phone connections in your contry see if they can install a repeater in your area, they are small semi towers normally, linked by line of site via laser or microwave to a tower connected ot the network, a lot of places will pay for one to be installed if there is a few people in the area effected by it as most western governments are trying to cover as much of the country they can with some form data access, even if it's slow as shit.

There are other soloutions but they are jankey as shit and home brew and rely on luck as much as any radio communication skills.
 
If you are in the US and own a smartphone, a MagicJack phone number costs 50 dollars a year, but will be able to use SMS and voice calling on the smart phone for 50 dollars a year.

EDIT: Forgot to add on Wi-Fi no need for cellular data/service
 
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