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 an XMPP client. JMP’s tagline, “Freedom For Your Phone Number”, captures the freedom that JMP gives you from traditional cell phone carriers, as well as the fully-free nature of all the software that powers JMP (licensed entirely under AGPLv3+).

We have a couple big items to announce this month, so we’ll dive right in!

First of all, you can now receive phone calls directly in your XMPP client! We have tested this extensively with Conversations and Movim, and we believe other clients to work well too, including Gajim and Siskin. Any client that supports Jingle calling should work. To switch from using the JMP SIP account (the default) to using Jingle voice (XMPP calling) for incoming calls, use the ‘j’ command of the JMP account bot:

1. send ‘j’ to account@jmp.chat (if the link doesn’t open, add account@jmp.chat to your XMPP contact list)
2. if it shows you’re using the JMP SIP account, then send the text ‘j enable’ to turn on Jingle calls
3. all calls to your JMP number will now ring your XMPP client!

We are working on outgoing Jingle call support as well, but it’s not quite ready yet. Stay tuned here (or in the group chat below) to learn when you can try it out! For more on how Jingle calling works and the other Jingle/SIP bridging features, check out https://sip.cheogram.com/

Secondly, there is now a way to use Cheogram (to do SMS over XMPP) with phone numbers from 46 more countries! This is provided by a new Soprani.ca project called the Vonage SGX, which we sponsor. You can find out more at https://wiki.soprani.ca/VonageSetup

While not part of JMP, we wanted to mention it here since many have asked about support for more countries. With the Vonage SGX you maintain your own account with Vonage, and Vonage answers any phone network questions you have. The Soprani.ca community can help with any questions related to the Vonage SGX itself, in the Soprani.ca group chat mentioned below.

There have been a bunch of new features added to JMP as well since our last email (mostly in the JMP account bot at xmpp:account@jmp.chat), including several related to group texting. If you’d like to try out our group texting support so far, please reply to this email or contact support via https://jmp.chat/#support

Stay tuned for our next update email to learn about even more new features and our plans to officially remove the “beta” flag!

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 for the 30-day free trial at https://jmp.chat/#signup and try it out!

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful 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 an XMPP client. JMP’s tagline, “Freedom For Your Phone Number”, captures the freedom that JMP gives you from traditional cell phone carriers, as well as the fully-free nature of all the software that powers JMP (licensed entirely under AGPLv3+).

Today is JMP’s 3 year anniversary! That’s right, we launched JMP exactly 3 years ago, and have been chipping away at Big Telecom ever since. 😉 We’ve got a fair bit planned for the next 3 years, and are excited to bring it all to you as it’s ready.

Before we go into those details, we wanted to let you know about a couple of excellent events coming up next month that JMP is involved in. Here they are:

• LibrePlanet Canada Satellite Edition! This is a new conference in 2020, which will be happening concurrently with the US LibrePlanet conference in Boston, May 14-15. From the website: “For the first time ever, all the great presentations of LibrePlanet are coming to Canada! Bringing in the main talks via live stream, with space for local hallway track and more, LibrePlanet Canada Satellite Edition is your chance to meet with like-minded participants and take in the event from Canada.” It’s happening at the Delta Hotel in Waterloo, Ontario. JMP is an official sponsor of LibrePlanet Canada Satellite Edition - more on that in a bit. Also, you’ll be able to chat with some JMP people in person, including core contributor Stephen Paul Weber!
• LibrePlanet in Boston! The original LibrePlanet continues for its 12th year, this time at the Back Bay Events Center. Check out some wonderful speakers and booths at this excellent conference devoted to software freedom. JMP is very likely to be included in LibrePlanet’s raffle and/or door prizes so be sure to keep an eye out for those!

As for development work, we’ve got a number of projects on the go. Behind the scenes we’ve been updating our code to use a completely new API from our carrier, which will be mostly invisible to users, but does have some cool new features we hope to be alpha testing with some of you soon. In particular, we’re excited to be rolling out group texting (both sending and receiving) in the coming months! If you’d like to alpha test, please just reply to this email and let us know - we’ll set you up in the next month or so.

And along the lines of new features, we’ve also been improving our payment system at the same time. As part of our sponsorship agreement with them, we’re currently running payments for LibrePlanet Canada Satellite Edition through our new payment provider, which will let us do credit card subscriptions directly without needing PayPal (still some development work to do there, but let us know if you’d like to alpha test the new provider for your next payment). And we’re also automating the currently-manual process we have for accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Stay tuned!

If you’d like to know 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 for the 30-day free trial at https://jmp.chat/#signup and try it out!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend! We’re looking forward to many more years of JMP and hope that you are too!

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 an XMPP client. JMP’s tagline, “Freedom For Your Phone Number”, captures the freedom that JMP gives you from traditional cell phone carriers, as well as the fully-free nature of all the software that powers JMP (licensed entirely under AGPLv3+).

As mentioned last month, we’ll have a booth at LinuxFest Northwest, which is happening this weekend! If you’re in or near northwest Washington state (specifically Bellingham Technical College), it’s a great chance to meet people in free and open source software and learn about a variety of amazing topics - the talks and exhibit hall are free of charge. At the JMP booth we’ll have pamphlets and JMP stickers, and you can pay for JMP anonymously in cash at the booth if you like. Also, feel free to just stop by and say hi!

There are some opening events on Friday (April 26) with the main conference and booths open Saturday and Sunday (April 27-28). There will be a raffle happening on both main conference days after the talks - we’ve submitted our usual prizes (JMP subscriptions) so you may be able to win one of those! For a complete event and talk list, see https://www.linuxfestnorthwest.org/conferences/2019/schedule/events

In other news, we had a wonderful time at LibrePlanet last month and we’re looking forward to future LibrePlanet events. Our raffle prizes were a big hit and it was great to meet so many JMP users and enthusiasts there!

If you’d like to know what’s happening with JMP between emails like this, here are some ways you can find out:

• follow us on Twitter
• find us in xmpp:discuss@conference.soprani.ca?join - a group chat accessible from most XMPP clients, and on the web
• signup for the 30-day free trial at https://jmp.chat/#signup and try it out!

Thanks for reading and have a great day! We’re looking forward to seeing some of you at LinuxFest Northwest!

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 an XMPP client. JMP’s tagline, “Freedom For Your Phone Number”, captures the freedom that JMP gives you from traditional cell phone carriers, as well as the fully-free nature of all the software that powers JMP (licensed entirely under AGPLv3+).

As promised, we have some more details about upcoming conferences we’ll be at: We’re very excited to announce that we’ll be at LinuxFest Northwest this year - our booth has been confirmed and we’re preparing our booth materials now. As usual, we will have pamphlets and JMP stickers, and you can pay for JMP anonymously in cash at the booth if you like. Or just stop by and say hi! LinuxFest Northwest is happening April 26-28 at Bellingham Technical College in Bellingham, Washington, just an hour or two from both Vancouver (BC) and Seattle. There is an excellent lineup of speakers, and an extensive exhibition area with lots of great organizations. Also, admission to the exhibition area and talks is free! For full details, and to register, see https://www.linuxfestnorthwest.org/conferences/2019

We’ll also be at LibrePlanet, which is happening this weekend (March 23-24) at MIT! While JMP will not have a booth this year, we’re participating in the raffle again, where you can win a JMP subscription. As with FOSDEM, a few people from JMP will be at LibrePlanet, including our founder - we’ll be wearing T-shirts with a large JMP logo on the back. We’re very happy to talk about JMP if you happen to run into us; don’t be afraid to say hi!

In other news, we are getting closer to offering additional international messaging and calling options. In particular, we are now in the testing phase for iNum, which means we will soon be able to offer new phone numbers from the iNum calling code, which are reachable from most carriers worldwide. If you’ve been waiting for a JMP number outside Canada and the US, this will be your chance! For more on iNum, see https://www.inum.net/ or reply to this email - we’re happy to discuss how iNum might work for you.

If you’d like to know what’s happening with JMP between emails like this, here are some ways you can find out:

• follow us on Twitter
• find us in xmpp:discuss@conference.soprani.ca?join - a group chat accessible from most XMPP clients, and on the web
• signup for the 30-day free trial at https://jmp.chat/#signup and try it out!

Thanks for reading and have a great day! We’re looking forward to seeing some of you at LibrePlanet this weekend and LinuxFest Northwest next month!

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 an XMPP client. JMP’s tagline, “Freedom For Your Phone Number”, captures the freedom that JMP gives you from traditional cell phone carriers, as well as the fully-free nature of all the software that powers JMP (licensed entirely under AGPLv3+).

If you’re in or around Brussels next weekend (February 2-3), we highly recommend checking out FOSDEM, one of the biggest free/libre software conferences out there, and entirely community-run (see https://fosdem.org/2019/practical/ for details - no registration is required, just show up!). A few people from JMP will be there, including our founder (who will also be at https://wiki.xmpp.org/web/Summit_23 , which you can join as well) - we’ll be wearing T-shirts with a large JMP logo on the back. While we won’t have a booth at FOSDEM this year, we’re very happy to talk about JMP if you happen to run into us; don’t be afraid to say hi!

We had a great time at SeaGL in Seattle this past November - thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth! It was wonderful to chat and learn more about what people like in JMP and how they’re using it. Stay tuned for more on which conferences we’ll be exhibiting at in the near future!

If you’d like to know what’s happening with JMP between emails like this, here are some ways you can find out:

• follow us on Twitter
• find us in xmpp:discuss@conference.soprani.ca?join - a group chat accessible from most XMPP clients, and on the web
• signup for the 30-day free trial at https://jmp.chat/#signup and try it out!

Thanks for reading and have a great day! We’re looking forward to seeing some of you at FOSDEM!

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 an XMPP client. JMP’s tagline, “Freedom For Your Phone Number”, captures the freedom that JMP gives you from traditional cell phone carriers, as well as the fully-free nature of all the software that powers JMP (licensed entirely under AGPLv3+).

If you happen to be in Seattle over the next couple days, check out JMP’s booth at SeaGL! SeaGL, also known as the Seattle GNU/Linux Conference, is a grassroots technical conference that is being put on by some of the best organizers we know - it takes place tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday (November 9-10) at Seattle Central College (1701 Broadway), from 9am to 5:30pm, with a reception Saturday evening. Admission is free, and SeaGL also arranged free lunch and free childcare both days!

JMP’s booth will be in the Expo Hall (which is conveniently where lunch is being served), on the first floor in rooms 1110 and 1111. As usual, we will have pamphlets and JMP stickers, and you can pay for JMP anonymously in cash if you like. Or just stop by and say hi!

SeaGL has some great talks and other events scheduled, so be sure to check them out.

We hope to see you there!

If you’d like to know what’s happening with JMP between emails like this, here are some ways you can find out:

• follow us on Twitter
• find us in xmpp:discuss@conference.soprani.ca?join - a group chat accessible from most XMPP clients, and on the web
• signup for the 30-day free trial at https://jmp.chat/#signup and try it out!

Thanks for reading and have a great day! We’re looking forward to seeing some of you at SeaGL!

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 an XMPP client. JMP’s tagline, “Freedom For Your Phone Number”, captures the freedom that JMP gives you from traditional cell phone carriers, as well as the fully-free nature of all the software that powers JMP (licensed entirely under AGPLv3+).

JMP users can now send international SMS (i.e. SMS to countries outside Canada and the US), as part of our alpha rollout! Thanks to the agreement we alluded to in last month’s email, we’ve been able to enable international SMS sending on all JMP numbers (receiving of international SMS has always been supported). The feature is currently in alpha while we do further testing and validation work, but it’s available to you now if you want to try it out (at no additional charge while in alpha).

If you don’t have an international number to test with, or if you run into any issues with the international texting functionality (i.e. messages are not delivered at all or only some countries work), let us know by replying to this email or contacting support: https://jmp.chat/#support. We can help you from there and/or provide an international number you can use to test the functionality.

International SMS are sent in the same way as other SMS, using the full E.164 number before @cheogram.com as described in https://jmp.chat/#sending. For example, to send a message to the Australian number +61 (0)448 008 003, you would use the JID +61448008003@cheogram.com.

You may recall from last month’s email that JMP will have a booth at SeaGL in Seattle this year. We are prepping all our materials now, and are excited to be joining them! SeaGL recently announced even more free stuff, which makes the decision to attend even easier. ;) Check out the details on free childcare and free lunch.

For more on how we’ll be involved in SeaGL this year and why you should attend, here’s what we sent out last month:

JMP will have a table at SeaGL this year! SeaGL is taking place November 9-10 at Seattle Central College (1701 Broadway, Seattle, WA), and we’re really looking forward to being there. As a grassroots technical conference that is being put on by some of the best organizers we know, SeaGL offers an amazing community of people and great talks that you should definitely check out. SeaGL is also free of charge and you don’t need to identify yourself in order to attend, so if you’re in the area or don’t mind travelling, you won’t want to miss it! Be sure to watch their website for all the details, and signup for the announcement list at the bottom of the page.

At SeaGL (as at HOPE), you’ll be able to meet some of us (including the founder) at our exhibit table, pay for JMP anonymously in cash if you like, and/or just hang out or chat with us! We’ll have pamphlets and JMP stickers if you’re interested, too. We hope to see you there!

If you’d like to know what’s happening with JMP between emails like this, here are some ways you can find out:

• follow us on Twitter
• find us in xmpp:discuss@conference.soprani.ca?join - a group chat accessible from most XMPP clients, and on the web
• signup for the 30-day free trial at https://jmp.chat/#signup and try it out!

Thanks for reading and have a great day! We’re looking forward to seeing some of you at SeaGL next month!

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 an XMPP client. JMP’s tagline, “Freedom For Your Phone Number”, captures the freedom that JMP gives you from traditional cell phone carriers, as well as the fully-free nature of all the software that powers JMP (licensed entirely under AGPLv3+).

We had a great time at the HOPE (Hackers On Planet Earth) conference in July - lots of people stopped by the JMP booth to chat, ask questions, and even take us up on the offer to pay in cash for their JMP subscriptions! In case you missed HOPE, we’ll be at another excellent conference coming up soon:

JMP will have a table at SeaGL this year! SeaGL is taking place November 9-10 at Seattle Central College (1701 Broadway, Seattle, WA), and we’re really looking forward to being there. As a grassroots technical conference that is being put on by some of the best organizers we know, SeaGL offers an amazing community of people and great talks that you should definitely check out. SeaGL is also free of charge and you don’t need to identify yourself in order to attend, so if you’re in the area or don’t mind travelling, you won’t want to miss it! Be sure to watch their website for all the details, and signup for the announcement list at the bottom of the page.

At SeaGL (as at HOPE), you’ll be able to meet some of us (including the founder) at our exhibit table, pay for JMP anonymously in cash if you like, and/or just hang out or chat with us! We’ll have pamphlets and JMP stickers if you’re interested, too. We hope to see you there!

Lastly, in case you’re wondering what we’ve been doing between conferences, we’re currently working on support for outgoing calls and text messages to numbers outside Canada and the US. JMP numbers have always been able to receive calls and messages from these international numbers, but our carrier partnerships have limited where we can send. However, thanks to a new agreement with one of JMP’s carriers that we’ve been hashing out over the past several months, we will soon have full support for sending and receiving text messages and calls to and from numbers outside Canada and the US! We’re still working out the details, but hope to have everything enabled within the next few months. Stay tuned for more details on pricing and availability!

If you’d like to know what’s happening with JMP between emails like this, here are some ways you can find out:

• follow us on Twitter
• find us in xmpp:discuss@conference.soprani.ca?join - a group chat accessible from most XMPP clients, and on the web
• signup for the 30-day free trial at https://jmp.chat/#signup and try it out!

Thanks for reading and have a great day! We’re looking forward to seeing some of you at SeaGL in November!

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 an XMPP client. JMP’s tagline, “Freedom For Your Phone Number”, captures the freedom that JMP gives you from traditional cell phone carriers, as well as the fully-free nature of all the software that powers JMP (licensed entirely under AGPLv3+).

If you happen to be in New York City this weekend, you can chat with some JMP people in-person at HOPE! HOPE, also known as Hackers On Planet Earth, is a bi-annual conference described as “one of the most creative and diverse hacker events in the world”. It takes place at Hotel Pennsylvania, 401 7th Avenue.

The HOPE conference starts tomorrow (July 20) and goes until Sunday evening (July 22). We will be in the vendor area, which is on the Mezzanine level, just up the escalator from the registration desk. You’ll be able to meet some of us (including the founder) at our booth/vendor table, pay for JMP anonymously in cash if you like, and/or just hang out or chat with us! We’ll have pamphlets and JMP stickers if you’re interested, too.

If you haven’t registered for HOPE yet, you can do so at the door (see https://xii.hope.net/news.html for details). There are lots of great talks and other vendors at HOPE! Check out https://xii.hope.net/vendors.html for the complete list.

If you’d like to know what’s happening with JMP between emails like this, here are some ways you can find out:

• follow us on Twitter
• find us in xmpp:discuss@conference.soprani.ca?join - a group chat accessible from most XMPP clients, and on the web
• signup for the 30-day free trial at https://jmp.chat/#signup and try it out!

We are plugging away on the different payment options that we plan to have ready by the end of this year (hopefully much sooner), including automated Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin payments (you can already pay with these, but you need to contact support to do so) and more non-PayPal options for conventional currencies. After that we’ll be implementing missed call notifications - see https://gitlab.com/ossguy/jmp-fwdcalls/issues/14 for the disussion so far. We’ll be sure to keep you in the loop on all these new developments.

Thanks for reading and have a great day! We’re looking forward to seeing some of you at HOPE this weekend!

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 an XMPP client. JMP’s tagline, “Freedom For Your Phone Number”, captures the freedom that JMP gives you from traditional cell phone carriers, as well as the fully-free nature of all the software that powers JMP (licensed entirely under AGPLv3+).

As we prepare for our next conference and continue the payment/plan option improvements, we just wanted to send out a quick update to let you know that our vendor table at The Circle of HOPE conference is officially confirmed! HOPE happens July 20-22 at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City and we’ll be there all three days.

HOPE, also known as Hackers On Planet Earth, is a bi-annual conference described as “one of the most creative and diverse hacker events in the world”. You can register at https://store.2600.com/products/tickets-to-the-circle-of-hope if you like, or get a ticket a the door (though supplies are limited).

For those that do make it to HOPE, you’ll be able to meet some of us (including the founder) at our booth/vendor table, pay for JMP anonymously in cash if you like, and/or just hang out or chat with us! The vendors area is on the mezzanine level; see https://xi.hope.net/attractions.html#-vendor-area- for details.

If you’d like to know what’s happening with JMP between emails like this, here are some ways you can find out:

• follow us on Twitter
• find us in xmpp:discuss@conference.soprani.ca?join - a group chat accessible from most XMPP clients, and on the web
• signup for the 30-day free trial at https://jmp.chat/#signup and try it out!

We are plugging away on the different payment options that we plan to have ready by the end of this year (hopefully much sooner), including automated Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin payments (you can already pay with these, but you need to contact support to do so) and more non-PayPal options for conventional currencies. After that we’ll be implementing missed call notifications - see https://gitlab.com/ossguy/jmp-fwdcalls/issues/14 for the disussion so far. We’ll be sure to keep you in the loop on all these new developments.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend! We’re looking forward to seeing some of you at HOPE next month!