Hi everyone!

Welcome to the latest edition of your pseudo-monthly JMP update!

In case it’s been a while since you checked out JMP, here’s a refresher: JMP lets you send and receive text and picture messages (and calls) through a real phone number right from your computer, tablet, phone, or anything else that has a Jabber client.  Among other things, JMP has these features: Your phone number on every device; Multiple phone numbers, one app; Free as in Freedom; Share one number with multiple people.

Today JMP turns 5 years old!  We launched on this day in 2017 with a fairly basic set of features: bidirectional Canada/USA SMS and MMS, with incoming calls directed to a pre-existing phone number.  Since then we’ve kept pushing further and further toward feature-parity with the most popular mobile phone number providers, adding outgoing calls, international texting, and group texting.

We have been actively testing the final piece of this work, international calling, and are pleased to announce today that we made it!  With the addition of international calling, which is available to all JMP users as of right now, we are now phone-feature-complete.

What does this mean?  In short, we now support all the features that other providers of mobile phone numbers support: bidirectional MMS (including group texting), domestic and international SMS, and domestic and international calling.  So if you or your friends have been waiting to try JMP until we finished all these features, now is the time to get the word out and try it!

On top of international calling, we now support using as many minutes per month as you like (with 120 Northern America minutes worth of credit included by default) - see our new comprehensive pricing page for details.

You may be wondering: Where do we go from here?  Well, we still have much work to do, and many more newsletters like this one coming up to let you know about it!  There are two main areas of work left:

First, we want to keep our finger on the pulse of telephony, specifically making sure that we add any features that mobile carriers are adding to their phone numbers, like RCS.  If we find such a feature supported on at least Android and iOS, we’ll get it into JMP as soon as possible (for RCS, the rollout is limited, and only on Android so far - if you know of other phone number features we’re missing, reply to let us know!).  Also, we have not forgotten about the many kind requests we’ve received for JMP numbers outside of the USA and Canada.  Those are on our list!

Second, we want to make JMP as easy to use as possible.  There is still much work to do here, particularly on simplifying signups, adding and managing contacts, and group texting.  We want to make sure that group text threads are easier to follow, which requires a little bit of development work yet.  And we are actively working on improving the Cheogram app that many of you have started using on Android, to include these fixes and an easy way to signup for JMP.  In the not too distant future you’ll be able to install the Cheogram app, pick a JMP number from the app, and start using it right away.

In other news, Dino 0.3 has been released which brings with it voice calling features compatible with those used by Converations, Snikket, Movim and JMP! It’s still early days and so there may be some compatibility issues, but reports say the features are working for people.

Lastly, as part of JMP’s 5 year anniversary, we are unveiling our new logo today too!  You can check it out at the usual places, such as https://jmp.chat/ and elsewhere.  Our old logo (which is still live at its old location for the nostalgic) has served us well for the past half decade, and we appreciate all it’s done for us.  The new logo reflects how increasingly close we’re getting to JMP being easy to use for the average person, and hopefully our approachableness.

As always, we’re very open to feedback and would love to hear from you if you have any comments, questions, or otherwise.  Feel free to reply (if you got this by email), comment, or find us on any of the following:

• The chatroom remains the heart of the community.  You can also join from your web browser.
• The blog, where you may be reading this. Can also be followed in a client like Movim.
• The Lemmy Community
• The Subreddit
• On Twitter

Here’s to many more years of JMP!

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the latest edition of your pseudo-monthly JMP update!

In case it’s been a while since you checked out JMP, here’s a refresher: JMP lets you send and receive text and picture messages (and calls) through a real phone number right from your computer, tablet, phone, or anything else that has a Jabber client.  Among other things, JMP has these features: Your phone number on every device; Multiple phone numbers, one app; Free as in Freedom; Share one number with multiple people.

We have made a deal with Snikket CIC to include their Jabber hosting as an option for all JMP customers.  Anyone with a paid-up JMP account may get an instance hosted by Snikket CIC at no extra charge.  Your Snikket instance will be covered by your usual JMP monthly subscription.  This will eventually be the default option for new users without a Jabber ID as part of our signup flow.

Many customers have asked us how they can use more than the included 120 voice minutes each month.  Starting soon, JMP will let you pay for as many minutes as you want, and along with this will be coming outbound calls to international destinations as well.  Note that users still paying with the old PayPal system will not be able to access more than the included 120 minutes or international calls, so now is a great time to make the switch.

We have already published what the initial calling rates will be, so go check that out to get an idea of costs.  Once the new pricing goes live, we will convert the 120-minute limit into a dollar equivalent that will give you 120 minutes to the USA and Canada, but will also allow you to use that included limit to cover international calls if you prefer (or a combination of both).

Speaking of costs, we know a concern for many people is getting billed for more overages than they can afford.  Of course, JMP being pre-pay helps with this a little, but if you want to pre-pay for many months and know you won’t accidentally burn up the credit, what can you do?  We have implemented a per-calendar-month overage limit system where you decide the limit.  The default for all customers is $0/month for now (so you would continue to pay the same amount every month, with no overages), but you can raise your limit using the plan settings command in your account settings so that you can take advantage of these upcoming features.

To learn what’s happening with JMP between newsletters, here are some ways you can find out:

• The chatroom remains the heart of the community.  You can also join from your web browser.
• The blog, where you may be reading this. Can also be followed in a client like Movim.
• The Lemmy Community
• The Subreddit
• On Twitter

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful rest of your week!

The Soprani.ca project, and Cheogram in particular, is pretty big on bidirectional gateways.  The most popular Cheogram-hosted instance, so popular that it gets to own Jabber IDs on cheogram.com, is a bidirectional gateway to the telephone network.  How is it bidirectional?  Don’t you need a Jabber ID to use it?  Of course not!

Sending a Message

From any SMS-enabled device, add +12266669977, which is the gateway’s phone number.  Send the following SMS:

/msg someone@server.tld Hello!

The user with Jabber ID someone@server.tld should shortly receive your message.  If they reply, what you see will depend on their relationship to the gateway.  If they have a backend route set (such as JMP, Vonage, or Twilio) then you will get an SMS from their associated phone number.  If not, you will get a message from the gateway’s number like this:

<someone@server.tld says> Oh, fun!

Joining a Chatroom

An SMS user can also join exactly one chatroom at a time.  Send this to the gateway’s number:

/join someroom@conference.server.tld

You should receive a message with the current list of participants, after which you will start seeing messages sent to the room.  After this point, any SMS send to the gateway’s number that is not a valid command (such as /msg) will be sent to your joined room as a message.  You can send /help at any time to get a list of other commands for leaving, setting your nickname, etc.

Making a Voice Call

To call a Jabber ID, first enter it into this form then dial one of the access numbers and follow it up with the extension generated by the form.

The extensions are often very long, so the easiest way to dial them on Android is to create a contact with a phone number of the form:

+access_number,*10816etc

If you have trouble with one access number, try another one.  If the Jabber ID you wish to call is very long some access numbers may time-out waiting for you to dial all the digits.

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the latest edition of your pseudo-monthly JMP update!

In case it’s been a while since you checked out JMP, here’s a refresher: JMP lets you send and receive text and picture messages (and calls) through a real phone number right from your computer, tablet, phone, or anything else that has a Jabber client.  Among other things, JMP has these features: Your phone number on every device; Multiple phone numbers, one app; Free as in Freedom; Share one number with multiple people.

This month we launched a full rewrite of our website.  While this rewrite was mostly precipitated by changes at our primary carrier partner, we managed to get a few improvements in there as well.  First of all, the search box on the homepage now accepts more than just area codes: a city then comma then two-letter state or province code is accepted, as well as zip codes or vanity patterns (like ~woof or ~1234).  This search is also now powered by XMPP commands in the backend, so you can now get a JMP number entirely without ever visiting the website, just talk to cheogram.com and send register jmp.chat to get started.

Next, our community has been testing more features in the pre-release Cheogram app.  This app is available to anyone who wants to test it by coming by the chatroom and asking for access.  When the app is a bit more ready, it will be released on F-Droid, hopefully in Q1 2022.  The big new feature right now is dialer integration.  This allows anyone using the app with cheogram.com added to their contacts to head to their native Android dialer and visit Settings > Calls > Calling accounts in the menu.  From there it should be possible to enable the calling account associated with your Jabber ID and then dial out directly from your native Android dialer app over JMP!  Any questions about this feature or the Cheogram app in general should be directed to the chatroom.

As our community grows it makes sense to reach more people where they are at, and not just hang out where we are most comfortable.  This month the freedomware project we sponsor and rely on, Sopranica, is opening two more venues where you will be able to get news from JMP or discuss the project generally: Lemmy and Reddit.  Here is the new complete list of official ways to communicate with our community:

• The chatroom remains the heart of the community.  You can also join from your web browser.
• The blog, where you may be reading this. Can also be followed in a client like Movim.
• The Lemmy Community
• The Subreddit
• On Twitter

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful rest of your week!

This blog is powered by XMPP. That means it is federated over the Jabber network, it has a Jabber ID, and you can subscribe to it using a supporting Jabber client. One such client with support for subscribing, liking, and commenting is Movim. There are several public Movim instances including one hosted by upstream and one by chatterboxtown. Once you are logged in with a Movim instance, you can follow these steps to discover this blog and subscribe.

1. Click Explore

   

2. Click

   

3. If blog.jmp.chat is not yet known to this instance, you can use the search box to add it

   
4. After entering blog.jmp.chat in the search box and hitting enter, you may need to click away to any other Movim page and then come back to the Communities Servers area as before.

5. Click

   

6. Click

   

7. Click

   

8. New posts from the blog will now show up under News

    

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the latest edition of your pseudo-monthly https://jmp.chat update!

In case it’s been a while since you checked out JMP, here’s a refresher: JMP lets you send and receive text and picture messages (and calls) through a real phone number right from your computer, tablet, phone, or anything else that has a Jabber client. Among other things, JMP has these features: Your phone number on every device; Multiple phone numbers, one app; Free as in Freedom; Share one number with multiple people.

The biggest announcement this month is the launch of our new inbound voice and SIP account system! Due to changes at our major carrier partner, all inbound call handling had to be rewritten and the SIP accounts some people use are moving to a new server with a new server name. As part of this rewrite you can now use the configure calls command to set call forwarding to any XMPP, SIP, or tel URI without involving support. If you haven’t used the JMP bot before, you do so by sending a message to your cheogram.com contact with the text of the command you want to run. You can send help for a list.

If you have not tried it yet, now would be a great time to try our features allowing calling from your Jabber account. All your regular SMS contacts can be called as well with no changes on your part, from any client that supports voice calls. Inbound calls can be routed to your Jabber ID using the configure calls command.

If you still need a SIP account for some reason (such as to use with a device that does not support Jabber calls) you will need to use the reset sip account command to get a username and password on the new server, as the old server will be going away soon. Be sure to use UDP as the transport!

In other news, our founder Denver Gingerich (ossguy) has returned from his leave and is rejoining us in day-to-day operations. You will see him more often in the chatroom and sometimes answering support.

There has also been a bit of movement on the mobile app front. We have been partially sponsoring development work on the now-released Snikket iOS which is now our recommended client for all iOS users. When paired with a Snikket server this client should receive calls and messages reliably, and also supports DTMF (entering digits for phone menus) during calls.

We’ve also had a volunteer working with us to clean up some of the features in our prototype app for Android. Not many visible changes yet (except for a much better icon to open the DTMF pad) but watch this space for updates.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reply to this email or find us in the group chat per below. We’re happy to chat whenever we’re available!

To learn what’s happening with JMP between emails like this, here are some ways you can find out:

• find us in xmpp:discuss@conference.soprani.ca?join - a group chat accessible from most XMPP clients, and on the web: https://anonymous.cheogram.com/discuss@conference.soprani.ca
• signup at https://jmp.chat and try it out!

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful rest of your week!

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the latest edition of your pseudo-monthly JMP update!

In case it's been a while since you checked out JMP, here's a refresher: JMP lets you send and receive text and picture messages (and calls) through a real phone number right from your computer, tablet, phone, or anything else that has a Jabber client. Among other things, JMP has these features: Your phone number on every device; Multiple phone numbers, one app; Free as in Freedom; Share one number with multiple people.

In case you haven't seen it yet, we now have an XMPP-powered blog! All newsletter updates, as well as other content like technical deep-dives will be published there. If you just want these updates, don't worry, the mailing list isn't going away. You can check out the blog at https://blog.jmp.chat and follow in your RSS reader or compatible Jabber client such as Movim or Libervia.

JMP also has a new registration flow. This flow properly integrates with our new billing system and represents a lot of behind-the-scenes work to our architecture. The most important part of the new billing system is the referral system. That's right, JMP users can now get single-use invite codes to refer users. The new user gets one free month, and if they decide to upgrade to a paid account the original user will get a free month of credit too! XMPP server operators for closed or vetted groups can also contact support to ask that their server be added to an approved list where all Jabber IDs coming from that server will be given a free month, with the resulting credit if they upgrade going to the server operator.

Speaking of our new billing system, many users have been fully migrated to the new architecture which says goodbye to PayPal and hello to automated credit card and Bitcoin deposits, as well as official support for payment by mail or (in Canada) Interac e-Transfer. Payments can also be made in Bitcoin Cash by contacting support. Users on the new system now have a prepaid balance they can top up any time they like, with the option to automatically top-up a low balance with any amount $15 or more from credit card. Deposits over $30 get a 3% bonus added, and deposits over $140 get a 5% bonus. This paves the way for calling minutes over 120 / month (which will soon be available at the rate of $0.0087 / minute) and also international calling at per-minute rates to be announced later this year. Those who prefer to pay the same amount every month or year, as is done with our legacy PayPal system, will need to wait a bit until we integrate that option into the new system.

We've also had a volunteer working with us to prepare some new features for Android users, most notably DTMF (punching in numbers during a call) so that all phone calls can be done from inside Conversations. The code isn't quite ready for upstream yet, but drop by the chatroom if you want to try out a prototype.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reply to this email or find us in the group chat per below. We're happy to chat whenever we're available!

To learn what's happening with JMP between emails like this, here are some ways you can find out:

• find us in xmpp:discuss@conference.soprani.ca?join — a group chat accessible from most XMPP clients, and on the web.
• signup at https://jmp.chat and try it out!

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful rest of your week!