Can you suggest an alternative to Whatsapp ?

[Shayne]

I'm sick of spending hundreds a month on phone bills and whatsapp is great - when it works .

Bare in mind most of my calls are to the only place in Britain where you have to stand on a roof on a cloudless day hoping a seagull doesn't fly over to get a mobile signal .

I'm not interested in video calls and all that so i've been searching for an international sim and i find their websites sorely lacking in info , and it seems most would require me to carry a 6 inch thick phone book around with me so i can dial a 24 digit number ?

Anything has got to be better than o2's 55p a minute .

 

[karl2000]

I think most of these international deals require you to dial a local/0800 number then you put in your id/passcode then finally the number you want to reach. From my experience these are usually rubbish quality too....

There are alternatives to whatsapp of course (eg Signal Messenger: Speak Freely - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club] ), but if whatsapp is failing because of a bad signal, anything else similar is likely to fail too. Whatsapp / signal etc will be OK if you have a half decent data connection at each end. Using wifi might be better than your phone company 'data' - but of course you need a good connection at both ends - you might not be able to control that.

Some companies (eg vonage) offer VOIP (Voice over IP) which is basically a landline over the internet - these are usually cheaper on international calls.

 

[karl webster]

Telegram?

 

[Grimbo]

Carrier Pidgeon.....?
Not much help are we ?

 

[Chris]

Signal.org apparently.

 

[karl webster]

I was serious Shayne. Telegram is similar to WhatsApp. People say it's more secure as far as our privacy goes now everyman and his dog expect us to consent to all our personal conversations and info to be shared! Waxkexs!

 

[Shayne]

I'm not sure how privacy became an issue given my problem is cost , nothing more private than we can't hear each other

I'm out of contract and i have found one provider with an interesting bolt-on , so i fired off an email to EE for more specific info , and another less hopeful one to the local anti competition we don't care if it doesn't work so long as the Freemasons get a cut local Government enforced monopoly .

Appreciate the replies though , it seems nuts in this day and age that you can facebook for free on the top of Mount Everest, but you cant make a simple phone call without being raped robbed and bludgeoned .

 

[Raj]

Shayne, I used Lyca mobile for international calls until 2014. It’s like our regular 3 mobile or O2 sim but international calls at local rates. I used to add 5 or 10£ a month on that.
Just check if Lyca is active in your international market.

 

[TonyP]

Whatever platform you go to is pointless if only you are on it. I started using Signal but only three of us on there, everyone else still on whatsapp.... Guess what I'm on whatsapp

 

[Howmanygoes]

Whatever platform you go to is pointless if only you are on it. I started using Signal but only three of us on there, everyone else still on whatsapp.... Guess what I'm on whatsapp

Found the same thing, moved over but no one else there, got family to come over, but given phone calls are free and so is SMS, who needs an alternative.

What ever happened to picking the phone up and speaking to someone.

 

[Iwan]

I gave up whatsapp,,, let me think... 4 years ago! Ditched the smartphone and still using the old nokia that I bought off ebay for around £3.60.

I spent too long on whatsapp and I was always stopping work to view messages and look at pictures of what some one else was doing and not concentrating on my own work/income.

I've never looked back and don't even think that I need it at all.

The best alternative to whatsapp is not having it!

 

[Raj]

WhatsApp is good for international calls and virtual meetings. Since WhatsApp came I left my Lyca mobile and Skype

 

[chapel gate]

 

[Shayne]

Same trouble with whatsapp , to me its just a phone that makes free calls , only once i had someone start sending me all funny memes and stuff so i lost his number but most i speak to say no chance its facebook and i don't want it .

I like your style Iwan but i more or less run a business by phone and i think you would soon change your mind if every 10 minutes you spent explaining something cost you more than a fiver .

I hate hearing my phone ring or text bleep because its never good news . Same with email i can't leave it more than a couple of days without checking it but its like going to the dentist .

 

[Iwan]

I went from ee paying over £45 per month and now use giffgaff for £6 per month have unlimited calls and text messages.

I believe it's the o2 network. To cut the phone down to the minimum is my moto. I can leave it in the house all day and come to think of it... I don't even know where my phone is now lol!

 

[Shayne]

Last months bill was £268 and i didn't make a single phone call because i wanted to .

Thats with unlimited text and calls and i've used about half a GB of my 3GB data , its the roaming rip off that batters me .

 

[GeekOKent]

@karl webster telegram is more secure in that the Russians are reading your message ( ha metadata?). Instead of the Facebook ( meta?) Folks.

@Shayne you said WhatsApp, but then mentioned calling regular phones. I don't think WhatsApp let's you call regular lines, just other people who are also on WhatsApp.

Almost everyone I know uses a fake number on WhatsApp, and changes it every few weeks.

Pre-brexit all European roaming was free ( I have a three account that I use for 100's of GBit a year in EU and US, for £15/month ). Once travel starts up again, will need to sort something out since all the roaming allowances seem to have gone.

 

[Shayne]

I don't call Europe , the Isle of Man in pretty much right in the middle of Britain , but its not in the UK or the EU . Roaming charges have always been ridiculous .

 

[GeekOKent]

So what's the roaming rip off then?

 

[Shayne]

For about £20 a month , or £240 a year, i can talk unlimited on the phone 24/7 from lands end to john'o'groats , and Northern Ireland as well probably .

So how can anybody reasonably justify 55p a minute or £24090 for the same to an island in the middle ?