Chat App Viber Now Lets You Buy Local Numbers That Anyone Can Call You On

Viber, the chat and messaging app acquired by Japanese ecommerce titan Rakuten for $900 million five years ago, is introducing a new subscription service that lets users pay to have a local phone number that anyone can call. From a report: Founded in 2010, Viber has grown to claim more than 1 billion "registered users" globally, though the company doesn't reveal how many of those are active on the platform. As with similar messaging apps such as WhatsApp, users sign up to Viber using their own mobile phone number, which allows them to easily connect with other friends and contacts who have joined Viber. With Viber Local Number, which has been in closed beta until now, users can pay $4.99 per month to access a local telephone number for anyone outside of Viber to call or text (SMS).

For the caller, it costs whatever their network rates are for calling a local number, while the Viber user doesn't pay anything extra beyond their monthly subscription. There are caveats with the service for now, though: Viber users can't call out using their local number, and they can't respond to text messages using their local number. So if someone messages you on your special Viber number asking a question, you won't be able to respond. The company told VentureBeat that it plans to make the number function bidirectionally in the future.

So....

[flippy]

Exactly what good is this if you can't respond or make calls out?

Re:

[damn_registrars]

Great question. I don't really see what this gets you for $5/month that you don't get for free with google voice.

Re:

[isj]

plans to make the number function bidirectionally in the future.

Perhaps the company first wants to get some measures in against scammers ("microsoft support") before they allow outgoing calls and SMS ?

Re:

[Opportunist]

Do you really want telemarketers to have yet another way to get a "local" number so Bob from Bangalore can inform you that you owe money to the IRS?

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[Opportunist]

If you bothered to follow the subthread, you might notice that I responded to a person asking what good it is if you can't make calls.

But thanks for providing once again that slashdot readers prefer knee-jerk reactions to actually following a thread.

Without blocking of robocalls it's not very useful

[ITRambo]

Google Voice gives you free numbers, and blocks robocalls. I'm gonna stay with what works.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Google Voice doesn't work in the countries where Viber is popular (even more than WhatsApp) aka Europe.

Re:

[FictionPimp]

Google voice has terrible robocall support. I send my GV number straight to voicemail with their spam and robocall features turned on. I get 3-4 voicesmails a week from spammers.

I've taken to now just deleting GV and I am building a iOS app that blocks all callers not on your contact list (sends to voice mail). This is the only sane way to have a phone number in 2019. I don't want my phone to ever ring unless I know you.

Viber?

[Red_Forman]

That sounds like a sex toy brand, dumbass.

Didn't read the article but wondering

[bobstreo]

if a free one-way pager is included in the price? /s

There have been a lot of "local number" solutions available (a lot of them for free) over the years.

Legal restrictions

[Anonymous Coward]

The restrictions on this service - no calling out, no text messages - are likely due to legal restrictions, not technical ones.

Allowing users to get a new virtual phone number that acts just like a landline would mean giving anyone the ability to create a burner phone that can be used for crime by my fellow anonymous cowards - and Japan has a big problem with phone fraud because of its large population of old people with a ton of savings, poor technological illiteracy and pre-dementia.

There's no robocall bl

Skype calls out

[aberglas]

My Skype calls out and in from a local number. Can also send texts that look like they came from my mobile nr. But cannot receive texts.

They Should be Happy to Terminate PSTN Calls...

[itsme1234]

... for free. Even without monthly subscription. Ok, maybe some small amount to keep the number if there's no activity for a while but terminating calls is usually a lucrative business.

Skype?

[fluffernutter]

Skype has been doing this for years. This was the point of Skype from its very inception.

Still with spam?

[ruddk]

I used Viber a bit when traveling, a some point I started to get spammy messages so I ended up deleting it. Currently on WhatsApp. I don't really care about which app it is, as long as it is spam free and it's what the people I talk to use.
I have zero use for a "local" number. Maybe if I was running a business and I had to have a "number".

Nice feature

[fmwhatsapp apk]

I have seen this feature in a viber mod on my iphone in tutuapp vip version at https://tutuappvip.xyz/ [tutuappvip.xyz] now it's live for people, it should be appreciated for sure.