A more reliable form of communication

Hardware Librem 5
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I’m coming the the crossroads many other have found themselves with the Librem 5: do I keep putting in my limited time into this, or do I see a therapist about this textbook example of sunk cost fallacy?

I made the mistake of moving over my primary phone number to SIMple plan (AT&T) on the Librem 5, thinking it would finally motivate me to pull the phone out of the box and “make it work.” Now, I’ve been deemed unreliable by my peers. It seems nobody can consistently contact me.

MMS comes in a day or two later, all in one clump and out of order. It usually comes after I turn off my phone and turn it back on again (it overheats a lot, so I find myself doing this often). I go on long walks, occasionally turning off and on my phone, to try and trigger an event, but I sometimes don’t get messages even with full bars. This is also true with outgoing messages. Purism support asked, “Can you connect to the internet during these times?” To which I respond, “yes, sometimes.” And their input was, “weird, there should be no problem.” Yet, I’m still playing this game. Those smart enough will contact my wife for everything.

Lately, I’ve been looking for a new job, and potential employers have been going to voicemail. When I do get calls, they usually can’t hear me for big portions of the call. When I call others, I don’t hear a ring. Occasionally, people report to me that I left them a 3 minute blank voicemail, even though I’m certain I hung up before I hit their voicemail. I usually go outside for all calls to avoid problems, but this doesn’t always work. This is all really unfortunate, as I’m advertising as a reliable remote worker (which I used to be). It looks really bad on me.

It has been really difficult to tell if it is the network (AT&T) or the phone. I suspect both are at play. Before I give in and get another normal-person phone (I can’t risk another months long debug session with another “secure” OS), are there techniques to improve reliability?

  1. Will it be worth my time and money to grab another SIM card and transfer my number again? Have any of you found a Verizon plan that works with the Librem 5? Is T-mobile’s 4G really any better than AT&T?
  2. Do any of you recommend VoIP and WiFi SMS/MMS options available for me to check out? For example, I just found Ekiga, but I haven’t tested it out or really know much about it. Are there any products that will allow me to use my existing number in conjunction with my SIM, or will I be that dude texting everybody instructions on how to reach me (“Use this number first, then this number, then my wife. Best if you try all 3 and see how I respond”)?
  3. Alternatively, is there Librem 5 support for WiFi calling and messaging with any of the carriers? Or is this a feature buried in a Purism TODO list?
  4. Are there cheap techniques to boost my phone signal at my home? The projects I’m finding get costly, and are often network dependent. I’m not about to drop $1000 to hopefully get AT&T to work, especially when I’m unsure they are the problem.
  5. Do you know how to move all your peers over to a different protocol/social network? Any worthwhile products that have me on the internet while others are receiving SMS/MMS, with minimal-to-no setup on their end?

I’ve learned a lot from using the Librem 5 full time, and hope to keep learning more. Unfortunately, I’m hearing voices echo the same refrain, “This phone just wasn’t for you. Let it go.”

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I’m in the same boat. I’m too dependent on my phone for work and the L5 just isn’t there. The bug which causes the modem to randomly disconnect is my biggest gripe.

My call quality has been fine with AweSIM, I’m told I sound normal. I can’t say I’ve noticed losing big chunks of phone conversations with the L5, but I did notice it happen on my iPhone XR when I made the switch from AT&T to Puretalk (AT&T MVNO) I’m questioning whether that money saving switch was worth it.

Sorry I don’t have any advice. I’m holding out a lot of issues get sorted in future updates, but right now, I just run 2 phones, my iPhone spyphone for work, and my L5 for off the clock when reliability is not as much of an issue.

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I’ve been using jmp.chat for a while now as a second line and I’ve been pretty happy with it. As you asked, I’m on the internet while they receive SMS and MMS. There’s a way to port your number to jmp but I haven’t done it (not for any particular reason, I just never did).

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Is it possible there is a conspiracy by the major carriers to screw with the customers if they don’t have one of the major brands of hardware?

[pseudo code on]
IF OFF BRAND DETECT THEN
  RND(connect) * .5
ELSE
  connect
ENDIF
[pseudo code off]
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I think it’s more likely that a phone that overheats and has lots of bugs related to phone calls is at fault, not the carriers.

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I used jmp.chat for a bit when I couldn’t get cellular service working, but SMS and MMS were a pain in the hindquarters. It’s not an alternative to a “real” cell number for someone who needs SMS and MMS to just work.

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I have not had this experience.

Well, that’s not true. If you use XMPP for SMS and MMS, it works great. SIP… not so much. Goes for calls too, for that matter, if you’re on android.

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The SMS and MMS messages went through just fine, but on a Librem 5 I had to have contact entries with the recipient’s phone number and an email address extension in order to be able to text the person. I was not able to just text the phone number like I could with a “real” cell number. And group MMS threads were all fussy regarding duplicate entries in Chatty. It worked…but you had to do significantly more work to get it to work, and the chat entries in the chat app were funky. It didn’t just work, which is what most people (including myself) expect out of a cell phone.

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True, I imagine dealing with contacts is a pain on Chatty (if on android, get the Cheogram XMPP app and the pain goes away). I didn’t realize we were speaking strictly of the L5.

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That’s odd. I text contacts normally with just phone numbers. My MMS messages are wonky though. Sometimes pictures show up normally, but most of the time, they show up as links in the chat which you have to click on to view the image.

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SMS and MMS (when I had data enabled) with a “real” cellular phone number usually worked fine for me on the Librem 5. I was specifically talking with @Gavaudan about using jmp.chat and Chatty.

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I just got a jmp.chat number and am struggling with it quite a bit with Chatty. Other services like Gajim or Dino are not formatted for the phone, so that doesn’t help.

I’m running into this too. Everything is +1##########@cheogram.com, rather than the raw number. That’s quite cumbersome. I’ll have to write a script to convert all my contacts to this format if I proceed, or contact jmp.chat support for a better solution.

The big one is that I don’t know how to set up a group MMS. The jmp.chat FAQ says that feature is in alpha, but doesn’t provide an example on how to do it.

I still don’t know how to set up a call through my new number. I see the “VoIP Accounts” option in Librem 5’s call app, but I’m not sure what to put in the fields (such as “Server” and “Port”). I gave my best guesses, but it never connected.

I see that jmp.chat has support that I’ll contact. But any advice would be helpful here, too, as I don’t know how familiar they are with Librem 5.

Verdict so far. jmp.chat was very quick to set up and get a number. It is cheap. But trying to use it as a substitute is kind of a pain, so far.

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If they know you’re using a Debian derivative that should be enough. I’ve talked to them before about an issue I had, they’re good people.

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I’ve thought about this before, and I’m sure others have, too. I’m skeptical for two reasons:

  1. It might be breaking a law, like an FCC requirement. If they were doing this, they’d be one whistle-blower away from getting fined and days of Congressional hearings.
  2. It is bad for their business. I now have “confirmed” that the AT&T network is crap and will never use them.
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If I remember correctly, a group chat via jmp.chat is just the multiple “+1##########@cheogram.com” contacts separated by commas. But responses to that group chat might not always reply to the original chat that you start.

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I see that jmp.chat has support that I’ll contact. But any advice would be helpful here, too, as I don’t know how familiar they are with Librem 5.

The lead dev has a Librem5 so you’ll be in a good hands, they are on this forum but I cant recall their user name.

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Non-Librem5 owners take, followed the project for awhile but never bought a device:

  1. Not worth it
  2. JMP.chat or other SIP options, but for remote work you might be better off trying Google Voice or something simialr for business use (see last comment in this for more)
  3. No, I doubt it will personally unless it can be done without requiring carrier support/approval (ie no whitelist needed, can be spoofed/added based on band support, etc)
  4. T-Mobile used to offer signal boosters for customers, but phased those out and I don’t remember AT&T having those (maybe could find on eBay if you’re lucky). Ive only seen third party ones around $300-$700, not sure how that fits your budget
  5. Time and effort, and you’ll find that you lose peers along the way since it’s not worth it for just one contact. If you can find a service like Matrix Bridges that lets you see/respond to a lot of services from one spot that could help.Or settle on the next best, and pick a service better than SMS but not as “weird” as XMPP might feel to non-tech users.

It sounds like you’re wanting a device to fit all your needs, but from your job comments you might be better off silo-ing things and regulating your Librem5 usage to just personal items (or just by your desk for checking progress).

None of this is a mark against the Librem5 or Purism, hopefully it adds to the discussion.

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I am about to totally reconfigure my communications and privacy setup in the near future. Currently, I have a carrier-bought Samsung Note 9, with a SIM card on it that no one who knows me, has the number for. For the past few years, I’ve had my main number ported to Google Voice, which forwards my calls to me at that GV number on a phone that no one knows the number to. I call out from that same phone using the Google Voice app, which spoofs everyone with the number that everyone has for me (the GV number). The only exceptions are the banks. I had to register the phone’s real number with the banks to use the banking apps which have to be tied to the phone’s real number, in order to get those apps to work . But the advantage of this method is that I can move the number that everyone knows me by, to different phones on the fly without having to port it. But I think I figured out a way to get the same thing now without needing Google Voice anymore. It’ll be nice to get rid of Google Voice now.

I just bought a Pixil 6 Pro. When it arrives, I’ll put GrapheneOS and a new SIM card with a new phone number on it (won’t care what that phone number is). Then I’ll port my Google Voice number back to my Note 9, where it used to be a few years ago (bye bye Google Voice). With that configuration, my Note 9 will continue working as it did before I ported it that number to GV. But the role of that older phone will change. It won’t ever leave the house and will be used only for very few things that I won’t be able to do on the Pixil 6 Pro, in GrapheneOS. I may choose to leave it turned off most of the time.

The GraphoneOS phone will have extreme privacy and Security on it, which is why I bought the new Pixil 6 Pro. I’ll keep everything from Google off of it. I’ll remove Signal from my Note 9 and register that Note 9’s phone number on to Signal on the Pixil 6 Pro phone. So all of my incoming and outgoing calls on the Pixil 6 Pro will be only through Signal with the number that everyone knows for me. I might even just get a data-only plan for the Pixil. A data-only plan might prevent the phone’s number from receiving any junk calls from the traditional cell service as there would be no traditional cellular voice service on the Pixil, only Signal. If Signal doesn’t work out, I’ll use a SIP service instead.

Now, the Pixil 6 Pro will be the phone that I carry everywhere with me. I probably won’t be able to use it for banking or for any apps that snoop or for anything that requires Google Play services. I’ll still be able to use navigation, to use a web browser, make purchases from Amazon, to play music, and to make and receive calls and texts. I plan to find out the limits of what can be done on a fully secure phone to maintain privacy and security, without allowing anyone to track me or spy on me. I never do banking or use a lot of apps (other than navigation) while in traffic anyway. If I am at home or in my office at work, I’ll still have access to my secured banking accounts using other devices. Over time, I’ll find more truely Secure apps that will work on F-droid or on Aurora for the Pixil. As far as Google and their tracking people are concerned, I’ll be a very boring person who never leaves the house, never buys anything online, and has no preferences for anything as they track only my (mostly unused) Note 9. Let them track and advertise to that.

If my Librem 5 ever arrives, I will probably get a SIP service in any event then, so the Librem 5 could also make and receive calls using my main number. In that case, then I would port that main number to the SIP service.

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It’s @ossguy.

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That’s me! Probably best to send any inquiries to support per https://jmp.chat/faq#support as was mentioned earlier - note that I do review all support inquiries so I’ll pickup anything in there that seems related to this thread (though someone else from JMP might reply first).

On the group chat question, to start a group chat it’s as was said: you use the Jabber ID of +1...,+1...,+1...@cheogram.com (numbers separately by commas) for the contact. To answer another sub-question, if you sort them in increasing numeric order, then replies will come back on the same Jabber ID.

I don’t monitor these forums too actively, so best to reach me via JMP support (or email - I’m easy to find). Glad to see so much interest in JMP here!

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