Reach out and phone someone
March 18, 2020 2:01 PM   Subscribe

Dialup is a voice-chat app that connects you serendipitously to the people you want to stay in touch with. (KQED)
A product of artists Danielle Baskin and Max Hawkins.
Alternately, maybe just call someone you want to talk to? “In Praise of Phone Calls” by Sarah Larson at The New Yorker.
posted by Going To Maine (9 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Seriously, nobody is hating on phone calls these days.
posted by grumpybear69 at 2:31 PM on March 18, 2020


I love Dialup! There’s a metafilter channel on Saturdays and it’s been super fun. I haven’t been on for a long while but plan to plug in again starting this week. Come join!
posted by mochapickle at 3:17 PM on March 18, 2020 [1 favorite]


I love Dialup too! The metafilter chats have been very fun. I've signed up for several other lines and have had a lot of good conversations on a bunch of different topics.

They also have Quarantine chat, which I haven't tried yet.
posted by mogget at 4:29 PM on March 18, 2020 [2 favorites]


You download the app and choose a couple of lines to subscribe to. Each line happens at a particular time, say Saturday at 1 pm. If you're available when the call is supposed to start, answer and wait to be connected to someone (it's one to one chat, though I have had a Mefi call with two people once, and that was a lot of fun). If you're unavailable for whatever reason, don't answer the call. You'll still get a call at the next scheduled time.

You don't see the phone number of whoever you're connected to, and they don't see yours.

Some of the calls are themed (books, tarot, poetry); others are not.

Previous MeTa discussion here.
posted by mogget at 4:57 PM on March 18, 2020 [2 favorites]


I'm not sure how you find or make other lines, there appear to be about a dozen and that is it.
posted by jeather at 5:31 PM on March 18, 2020


If you want to set up a line, tweet to @dialupdotcom and I'm sure they'll help you.
posted by mogget at 7:30 PM on March 18, 2020


Just realized that MetaFilter is listed as a (former?) user of Dialup’s Work From Home Chat service. Interesting.
posted by Going To Maine at 6:43 AM on March 20, 2020


Oh! IIRC there’s an individual user who uses MetaFilter as their name on Dialup...
posted by mochapickle at 7:42 AM on March 21, 2020


They also have Quarantine chat, which I haven’t tried yet.

Just want to resurface this thread to say that I’ve found Quarantine Chat to be pretty great snd give it a strong endorsement as a good way to cope with being cooped up. It has some periodic technical issues (dropped calls, weird background music keeps playing, etc.), but is generally good for an interesting call every day.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:36 AM on March 31, 2020


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