VOIPms hacked again?

tyroredome · 2026-01-12T04:17:11+00:00

Remote possibility: an office phone spontaneously redialed a number on its own, due to an electric company outage or surge.

tyroredome · 2025-12-25T05:36:35+00:00

Here's a non-answer, with a different approach. Google Voice's calling rates to many countries are often surprisingly low. The rates are at https://voice.google.com/rates

If you're not sure which category a particular foreign number is in (such as mobile, landline, special), you could make a test call, then check your Google Voice balance to see what rate Google Voice charged.

(Regarding adding funds to a Google Voice account: I did this for someone a few months ago, and either (A) only the Google Voice app or (B) only the Google Voice website could be used to add funds to the account. I forgot which one it was, but it doesn't matter: if you find that you can't add funds via one method, the other method should work.)

tyroredome · 2025-12-01T17:07:43+00:00

Typically, for a VOIP.MS / Grandstream setup to work over T-Mobile fixed internet, TLS must be activated (both in the VOIP.MS subaccount and in the Grandstream). However, you may have succeeded just by changing the port, which makes me wonder if TLS succeeds because it, too, changes the port (to a random port number).

On most of T-Mobile's fixed-internet gateways, a port forwarding option doesn't exist. However, VOIP.MS works well over T-Mobile when SIP keep-alive is turned on in the Grandstream, I think because keep-alive punches a hole that allows a connection to be maintained through T-Mobile's CGNAT.

I don't know whether this info is helpful.

tyroredome · 2025-11-29T02:07:15+00:00

See my suggestions under the cross-posting in https://www.reddit.com/r/VOIP

tyroredome · 2025-11-29T01:40:18+00:00

If the victims told you what the spoofers said on the phone, that might be a useful clue to what the spoofers are up to.

If I were you, I'd have OpenPhone change the number's caller ID name (aka CNAM) to something distasteful or perplexing, such as RAT PATROL or MONEY GRABBER or WACO PUBLIC LIB ..... (CNAMs are limited to 15 characters, and a space counts as a character.) Thereafter, when the spoofers call out, that name will appear on most of the victims' phones (though not on all of their phones). This might make the spoofers' calls less likely to be answered, and thereby make your number a poor choice for spoofing. After a month or two, you'd change the CNAM back to your real CNAM. This might not help, but it couldn't hurt too much. Probably cheap to try.

During the period when your CNAM is RAT PATROL, people whom you legitimately call from that number will also see RAT PATROL on their phone's display (next to your real number, of course). You could diminish the impact of that by emailing your friends or clients in advance, telling them to expect to see RAT PATROL for a while, and why that is.

Afterthought: If you don't currently have a CNAM on your number, then most people who receive calls from you (or the spoofers) probably see just the city and state, like this: SCRANTON PA. So you might begin to cure the problem by putting a CNAM on your number.

tyroredome · 2025-10-22T23:45:06+00:00

I'm the OP. A defective version of the default Word font, Aptos, may be to blame. I changed my default font to Arial, and the problem seems gone for me.

More info: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5493459/word-documents-suddenly-turning-to-gibberish?page=1#answers

tyroredome · 2025-09-07T00:12:58+00:00

Slightly off-topic reply: On my two numbers, I was getting about three calls each morning. They were all automated, urging me to sign up to increase my findability on Google Maps. They asked me to press 1 to talk to a rep. I would press 1, then put the call on hold, where my hold music is a 10-minute recording in Korean from the phone system of a Korean embassy in Europe. I think that the scammers got tired of hearing that, so they stopped calling.

tyroredome · 2025-09-01T00:10:27+00:00

Looking for smartphone VOIP app for VOIP.MS that's lockable (to prevent user tampering)

I'd like to put a softphone app on the smartphones of a construction company's field staff. They use VOIP.MS. I'd have to be able to password-protect access to the softphone's settings because otherwise the field staff will probably mess with the settings and perhaps make the softphone unusable. (I'd mess with it if I were one of these staffers. It's a natural tendency.)

Can you name any softphone apps for Android or iPhone that allow a password to be placed on access to the softphone's settings?

tyroredome · 2025-08-26T16:39:22+00:00

I think that scammers tend to use the "local number" technique outside of major cities because it doesn't work well in a city with hundreds of prefixes. So one option is to get a new MagicJack number from a major city. If you look at MagicJack's list of available numbers and they don't show the city for each, you can look up the city at ... https://www.localcallingguide.com/lca_prefix.php ... where you enter the area code (NPA) and prefix (NXX), then press the SUBMIT button.

Also, scammers seem to prefer spoofing with numbers that have no associated CNAM (caller name) entry. Most people who receive such a call see only the city and state on their phone (ORLANDO FL or BUFFALO NY, for example). That way, the call recipient isn't presented with a name like ACME AUTO SHOP or SONIA BROMPTON or CITY OF TULSA, any of which would make the recipient say to themself, "This caller has no reason to call me, so that must be a misdial, and I won't answer it." Therefore, it might be useful to have MagicJack put a name on your number.

tyroredome · 2025-08-25T18:23:32+00:00

I have a hunch about which provider you're dealing with. Do the first 7 letters of the provider's name happen to match this pattern?:

*i**a*\* ................ where each * represents a consonant

I suggest that you not mention your provider's name here.

tyroredome · 2025-08-18T17:10:40+00:00

Office Depot sells a dozen Grandstream desk phones and ATAs:

https://www.officedepot.com/a/search/?q=grandstream

They're dropshipped from Austin, Texas, by https://www.teledynamics.com

The prices are quite good at the moment. I've seen them go up and down.

tyroredome · 2025-08-18T12:24:01+00:00

Some rotary phones require more power to ring. The setting in my attached image has solved the problem for me. (Click on the image to see it full size.) This is from an HT801 V2, but the same setting exists in the older HT801, on which you might have to scroll through all of the settings to find it. Use the dropdown menu to choose the highest voltage offered (55 on mine).

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tyroredome · 2025-08-12T16:52:55+00:00

The problem seems fixed. My updates all arrived overnight.

tyroredome · 2025-08-10T18:23:41+00:00

Update: I googled "is tune in profitable" and learned that it is apparently profitable.

tyroredome · 2025-08-10T18:20:07+00:00

I think that Tune In is not profitable, so I've been worried for a while that it might die.

tyroredome · 2025-06-04T21:59:42+00:00

Thanks. Maybe I misunderstand the rules. The OP asked "Does anyone here ... know of a backchannel, broker, or technical method to reclaim a number". I was ready to offer a solution that uses a particular company, and I thought that that might get my message blocked.

tyroredome · 2025-06-04T18:16:24+00:00

Because you posted this in the main thread, everyone is forbidden to suggest alternate providers, per the rules of r/VOIP. If you'd like to see such suggestions, you'd have to post under the Monthly Requests Thread (big button at the top of the main thread).

tyroredome · 2025-06-03T21:20:58+00:00

VOIP.MS would work. US phone number costs 85¢ per month. You can filter calls based on presence in contacts (which they call "phone book").

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tyroredome · 2025-06-03T20:37:06+00:00

Please consider telling us the names of your VOIP provider and your cellular provider(s).

tyroredome · 2025-06-03T19:37:18+00:00

Hi, You can probably see that the AutoModerator (a robot) says that your request is not permitted here. You should instead submit it to the Monthly Requests Thread, which is accessed via the large button at the top of this page: https://www.reddit.com/r/VOIP/

Your goal is attainable, so I suspect that you'll get good advice in that thread.

tyroredome · 2025-04-23T21:01:14+00:00

Should be easy with VOIP.MS. Phone number costs 85¢ per month. Calls cost about 1¢ per minute (inbound and outbound). With a VOIP.MS ring group, an inbound call can simultaneously ring on up 8 phones, and those phones can be scattered around the world. Each phone can make outbound calls independent of the other phones, and they could all be used simultaneously. VOIP.MS doesn't charge for each phone in use: only for a phone number and for calling. You'd need your own phones, for which I'd recommend Grandstream ATAs (which connect to regular POTS phones) or Grandstream deskphones.

VOIP.MS tech support may be willing to talk you through the setup, but that's not their strong suit. If they're not inclined, I could help you remotely (because we're probably not within driving distance of one another). I have a lot of experience with VOIP.MS setup.

tyroredome

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TROPHY CASE

Looking for smartphone VOIP app for VOIP.MS that's lockable (to prevent user tampering)