Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!


What is the VOIP/MVNA equivalent to the lowendtalk forum ?
New on LowEndTalk? Please Register and read our Community Rules.

All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.

What is the VOIP/MVNA equivalent to the lowendtalk forum ?

rsync_dot_netrsync_dot_net Member, Host Rep

I was searching around trying to find a twilio competitor that would issue me a true "mobile" number that can receive SMS from short-code numbers (twilio numbers cannot receive 2FA from most websites because they don't come from normal numbers, they come from "short codes" that can only be received by real mobile numbers which twilio doesn't provide.

... and I had some other things I either wanted to discuss about VOIP data flows, etc.

... and I thought "boy I wish there were a lowendtalk for this topic".

Is there such a community ? Highly technical discussion of phonecall handling and flows and how to work in the MVNA/VOIP world ... not just idiots talking about how to grandfather their old sprint unlimited plan ...

Thanks.

Comments

  • MasonRMasonR Community Contributor

    Probably https://www.reddit.com/r/VOIP/ will fit the bill. Not sure if any forum/community sites exist with this purpose.

  • dfroedfroe Member, Host Rep

    Just to clarify:
    You are searching for a provider to assign you a not-so-real mobile phone number without signing a real mobile phone contract and the fake number should be able to receive SMS codes which can only be received by real mobile phone numbers?

    If you are searching for a real mobile phone number, why don't you get a real mobile phone contract? Especially if you are talking about 2FA (which is something about security) trying to circumvent it by using fake numbers does not sound like a really smart idea to me.

  • lowendvoip.com is available, go for it and profit ;-)

    On a side note, have you tried Nexmo or Plivo?

    Thanked by 1Janevski
  • rsync_dot_netrsync_dot_net Member, Host Rep
    edited November 2019

    If you are searching for a real mobile phone number, why don't you get a real mobile phone contract? Especially if you are talking about 2FA (which is something about security) trying to circumvent it by using fake numbers does not sound like a really smart idea to me.

    I think you misunderstand - I am trying to use the number programmatically, with an API and interfaces like Twilio. That's the issue - it's not that they won't give me a true mobile number, it's that they can't - they don't do that at all.

    In case you're curious, it's not a technical limitation - Twilio engineers at Signal last year explained to me that there is a huge process of getting every single mobile provider on the planet to recognize your number as legit and it's just too much work to "qualify" their numbers that way.

    BUT NEVER MIND any of that - that was just an example of the kind of topics I am trying to find discussion of ...

  • hzrhzr Member
    edited November 2019

    rsync_dot_net said: I think you misunderstand - I am trying to use the number programmatically, with an API and interfaces like Twilio. That's the issue - it's not that they won't give me a true mobile number, it's that they can't - they don't do that at all.

    The overwhelming vast majority of people that want to do what you're doing are using it for mass fraud at scale and spam.

    That being said, I have had major carriers allocate you nearly a whole exchange (NPA-XXX-*), including terminating their real numbers at your PBX/SIP endpoints, but it is not worth doing it for one number in any way.

  • ITLabsITLabs Member
    edited November 2019

    AFAIK Proovl provides real SIM numbers.

  • @rsync_dot_net said:
    Is there such a community ? Highly technical discussion of phonecall handling and flows and how to work in the MVNA/VOIP world ... not just idiots talking about how to grandfather their old sprint unlimited plan ...

    It's been a while since I've checked in on howardforums.com, but I remember they had a good VOIP discussion going on about a decade ago

    Thanked by 1MasonR
  • I am not sure I completely follow what you are wanting, but here are a couple of things I know / can suggest:

    • Get a cheap 1 month sim card and have a number generated for it ( They can generate a number for you if you want a new line, however, I don't know if that effects it ability to receive SMS in any way, as you stated it being a mobile number may have assisted with this)
    • Next port the number to a service (like) Number Barn using the $6.00 per month forwarding account type
    • Once the number is ported, they provide an SMS to e-mail gateway and you can specify which e-mail address to forward the SMS to.
    • If your script can interface with e-mails then this should seemingly work as you are wanting

    Disclaimer: I have no idea if this actually fixes the problem you stated you were having with receiving SMS from 'short codes', however, I have a business number I use like this and I haven't had any issues getting 2FA SMS codes from places such as Ebay, bank, etc.

    Maybe this will help?

    my 2 cents.

    Cheers!

    Thanked by 1ITLabs
  • TheLinuxBug said: Disclaimer: I have no idea if this actually fixes the problem you stated you were having with receiving SMS from 'short codes', however, I have a business number I use like this and I haven't had any issues getting 2FA SMS codes from places such as Ebay, bank, etc.

    After I did something similar my bank suddenly could no longer deliver MFA codes. They also pay for a daily feed of ported numbers to disable accounts.

  • https://howardforums.com/content.php is the community you are looking for.

    For your need, I'll just recommend carrying a second phone with a second number, or using a phone with dual SIM slot. Some phone like Moto G4 just cost like $70 and can do everything. Plug a Redpocket Mobile card ($60 yearly, with 500 min/500 text/500 MB 4G bandwidth every month), and you are good to go.

Sign In or Register to comment.