Continuing the slow crawl away from mainstream spyware…
If I want to try forwarding everything (messages/calls) to another number (I decided on doing another carrier and new number for L5), so I can still keep the old phone functional and not have to give out a new number… what options are there? Basically now L5 is the backup and I want to flip it around.
I know there’s the Google Voice thing but for obvious reasons that seems like a step backwards, I have no idea what kind of creepy spying they force on you when you use that thing. Any other ways to do this?
I think this would typically be a setting in your account with the carrier, unless I’m mistaken, and only if they offer it. But who knows, maybe there’s some CLI magic that could accomplish that for you…assuming the L5 is ON at the time of the incoming call/message.
Ah that sucks, but I expected that this won’t be possible the way I want to do it.
I wonder what would happen if I just swap SIM cards… (assuming both phones compatible with the networks), would it just swap that numbers that easy? I think I just need a convenient way to fall back if I find some reason to.
Sure. Swapping a SIM from phone A to phone B automatically carries the number with it, so incoming phone calls will now ring on phone B instead, and incoming messages will go to (and stay on) phone B. Your message and call history would then be segmented: some on phone A (the older ones), and some on phone B (the newer ones). Switching the SIMs again will cause new message and new call storage to revert again as well.
And if your SIMs are from different networks, the non-L5 phone (i.e. Android or iOS) cannot be carrier-locked; it must be an unlocked phone, or else the SIM from a different network won’t work. TIP: Always buy carrier-unlocked phones, for ease of switching SIMs, especially during foreign travel…and to avoid letting a carrier dictate how your comms life should be.
Well I’m not sure if there will be issues travelling but I’m using L5 with US Mobile now. It’s the TMobile Samsung phone I’m not sure would work on the US Mobile network if I swapped them.
Generally, if a carrier-locked phone (e.g. T-mobile) is brought to an MVNO that runs on that same carrier’s network (e.g. US Mobile, Mint, Ultra, Ting, etc.), it should work. But you’ll have to ask US Mobile. Ideally, get T-mobile to unlock your Samsung; then you can use it on any network worldwide, as long as the bands are compatible, keeping in mind that in the U.S., it has to also have been VoLTE-certified by the new carrier or else they won’t approve it for activation.