This may end up being a bit convoluted, so I will do my best to keep it as short as possible and to the point.
I have a US number with Google Fi, have had it for about 8 years.
This is the only reason why I still maintain that one Google account. The benefit is that I only use it when I am in the United States, and when I’m not, I just pause the service and don’t get charged.
However, I feel the string need to completely eliminate Google from my life permanently.
Does anyone know of a service similar to this one? It can be an MVNO or VOIP for my phone, and I would like to port my number as well. I found “phoner”, but I can’t pause the service, so I would be stuck paying a bill I don’t use as much or loosing my number.
If the service is private (not to be confused with anonymous, of course) even better.
For the $5 first payment, they have a partnership with Snikket who will setup and administer a private XMPP server for you. It’s included in the price if service and is retained for as long as you maintain a server. You can use it for any XMPP thing you want, and have as many users on it as you want.