VoIP on Surface Pro X

TL;DR: I want off Android, and I’m not getting on iOS - Skip to the lower part for my qeustion

Quick history: I’m on Android (OnePlus 5T) and I don’t like it. I’ve had this phone for two years, give
or take.
I had various Windows phones for years before that, but got off when they decided to kill the effort.
My only other Android experience was a Galaxy Note II, and it’s the reason I decided to go to Windows Mobile in the first place.
I don’t use any Google services (not talking about a complete block of all Google infrastructure, I just don’t use YouTube, Gmail, Google Search, etc), and I only have a Gmail account because of my phone.

I’ve been intending to get off Android, but for personal reasons I won’t touch an Apple product ever again. This leaves me with pretty much no options, and yes, this is my own fault.


My actual question
Does anyone have a strong recommendation for VoIP software that’ll work on Windows 10 ARM on the Surface Pro X?
I would like to be able to make and receive calls from a regular landline or cell phone without any special software on their end.
I have a wireless bluetooth headset I can use for ‘talking on the phone’, but don’t use the telephony capabilities of my current phone except for instances where I call a dentist or some such.
I would prefer a free option, but I"ll take cheap if it’s better (or if free does’t exist).

My current plan was to just use Skype, but I’ve never actually used Skype to make a call of any sort, and I’m not sure of what all it’s capabilities are, or if it’ll work for what I’m wanting.

Thanks in advance to anyone who has suggestions!

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I use Skype all the time on my iPhone to call my mum in the UK on her landline so it works fine; I have sixty minutes a month on my Office 365 subscription. You can easily add a Skype In number and you’ll be able to receive calls too. I don’t know hire’s well that works though. Not sure if Skype is a native ARM app yet so might be a bit of a battery drain.

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I can deal with a battery drain, at least for some time. My Android has a bad battery and doesn’t last more than about two hours anyway, so anything more than that will be a relief.

Thanks for the information! I’m looking into Skype a bit more right now.

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There could be a phone coming that runs Windows 10 on ARM.

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I’ve actually looked at this, but details are a bit light, they’ll likely have to use a custom UI over the top of it, and I’ve been waiting for a new Windows phone for so long, then they announced the… Duo? Android Surface, that I just gave up.
My current Android is quickly approaching useless, I need to get something new sooner than later, and I don’t want to spend money on another Android.

I’m about 98% convinced, given over a year of looking for alternatives, that the Surface Pro X can work well enough for me (not for pretty much anyone else how I intend to use it, I’m sure), but given my time crunch, I’ll take that risk.

It’ll actually be nice to replace both my phone and my Surface Pro 4 with a single device.

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The Duo would be better as it runs Windows 10X, which will be more stripped down, legacy apps run sandboxed, and has telephony built in. A phone based on that would be interesting and might be a good alternative to Android and iOS.

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Honestly, my concern with the Windows 10 X foldable (instead of the Android foldable) is that it’s running an Intel chip.
The only device I’ve had in decades that has “Intel Inside” is my Pro 4. I’m actually really excited to move away from Intel again. The Pro X is also similar enough to a form factor that I know for a fact I love, and has years of proving itself, that I’m less concerned than with the new foldables, especially their first generation.
I would argue that the Surface Pro line didn’t get ‘okay’ until Pro 3, and didn’t get ‘good’ until Pro 4, so getting a first gen foldable, while I’d do it if I had the money, isn’t something I really want to risk.

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One consideration will be how well Skype or another telephony app runs in the background when the machine is closed; assuming you need to be able to receive calls when you’re not standing by.

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No doubt Windows 10X will be ported to ARM. Making it modularised will make it an easier job. Getting Windows 10 to run on ARM has probably meant modularising some of Windows 10 anyway - separating out the native ARM parts from the parts that need to run in emulation.

Actually, Surface Neo will be the Windows 10X based one.

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You could use any SIP phone app with any VoIP provider that provides SIP service. Or some of the providers have their own apps but I bet most of those are Android or iOS only. https://getvoip.com/residential/

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I appreciate the list, I’ll dig into these a bit and see if any will work for what I’m trying.
I don’t want to replace my home phone, though. I want to replace my cell phone.

I was thinking I could do what I do now with my Surface Pro 4, and just turn standby off.
I currently leave my phone in my backpack plugged into a power block since it’s not holding a charge, leave the wifi hotspot turned on, and use my Pro 4 as my ‘phone’ with the Your Phone app and calling support. To do that, I just turned off sleep mode, and everything seems to run well enough. The bluetooth headset vibrates when a call comes in from the Surface, and I’m able to answer using the action button on it, and talk just as though it was my actual phone I was talking through.

Assuming the Surface Pro X acts the same way (don’t know why it wouldn’t in this case), I think it’ll fill my needs in this way.

Without sounding like I’m being a pedantic jerk, what’s the difference? These days voice is just data… so the difference is that your cellphone usually gets its data from LTE and not WiFi. I’m presuming you want to use a device that has LTE for data already, so… now all you need is a signaling channel for the voice handling. Depending on what you need, you might be able to merge a home phone and a cell phone into one service.

At least a few of the options linked before only work for land lines. They have hardware that plugs in, connect to a home network, and sit on your counter.
I am looking expressly for a solution that works on Windows 10, so it can go on the Surface Pro X.

I can’t really give you a list that is better or more applicable because I’m not American, and Google will only show me Canadian relevant results. You’d have to do some research on your own for what options are better for you. There are definitely services that exist that either do SIP trunking or residential SIP services. Some of the SIP trunking options are metered and charge by the minute… so if you don’t use much it could be really cheap.

Edit: A friend had some good luck with https://www.textnow.com/ for a short term need, but he was on Android.

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Honestly, you’ve helped me a lot by just mentioning SIP, since I’d not seen this particular term before when looking into VoIP solutions.
I do appreciate your information and help with this, and thanks for the second link!

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Well, I’ve got a Surface Pro X, and I’m in the process of finding alternatives for the very few things I use on Android.
Since there aren’t any emulators (that I’m aware of) that work on the Pro X, I’m going to take this opportunity to make a harder transition than intended, and just jump to my final goal of deleting my gmail account entirely and making a final break with Google services.

An authenticator alternative, a good podcast solution, possibly a few other things I haven’t fully considered yet, and I’ll be able to pull the trigger.

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