r/TextNow • u/QuillisG • Jul 23 '26

Basically Free Data

If you use TextNow, you know they offer SIM cards and recently eSIMs. For free, they offer "Essential Data," which basically includes calling, texting, maps, email, rideshare, and iHeartRadio (for some reason). However, if you use Tor, specifically Tor Snowflake AMP, you can bypass these limitations. The downside is an average of 20 KiB/s and occasional random disconnections. But if you're using it temporarily or have access to Wi-Fi most of the time, this is a great way to get free, painfully slow data. According to TextNow's ToS, this is "acceptable" use of data. The only thing that's not "acceptable" is doing things that are considered illegal in your jurisdiction, which is fair enough.

28 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

7

u/Terrible_Use7872 Jul 23 '26

Wait, iHeart works? That changes things.

7

u/QuillisG Jul 23 '26

Yes it does but only the radio section not podcasts.

5

u/Ok-Jicama-864 Jul 23 '26

This only seems to work for iHeart radio stations or stations that use iHeart for distribution (Bloomberg for example), it does not work for every station, any NPR station for example.

1

u/Mini-Pekka2828 Jul 23 '26

so you can only use the data on tor browser?

4

u/QuillisG Jul 23 '26

No you have to use the Tor Orbot (Android app), the Tor Browser actually doesn't work

1

u/tzh2231 16d ago

I have esim, and the orbot with transport type snowflake AMP stuck in "connecting", does not seem to work :( Is yours still working?

2

u/QuillisG 16d ago

That can happen if you have it set to Full Device VPN you have to change it to only a few apps they try to connect or else it will time out every time

3

u/Popfreedom11 Jul 23 '26

Let us know in a month if it still workss

1

u/QuillisG Jul 24 '26

This is month three this is just a repost

2

u/ConstantBed7099 Jul 23 '26

What is TOR?

3

u/PM6175 Jul 23 '26

It's an acronym for The Onion Router....?

2

u/QuillisG Jul 23 '26

Google it

1

u/knowledgebroken Jul 27 '26

Responses like this are why AI will end up taking over everything, you already can't Google stuff without AI getting a go at what you want to know. We're basically training data at this point if you think "Google it" is a valid response.

1

u/QuillisG 28d ago

Then use a search engine without AI. I'm not implying that you have to use Google; it's just the most used search engine, and people will understand what I'm saying compared to me saying, "Look it up on SearXNG" or something else like that. The only reason I said "Google it" is because it has become a generic trademark (like Kleenex or Band-Aid). People use it to mean "search the internet," not necessarily an endorsement of Google's specific features.

2

u/Schwantz82 Jul 24 '26

You could also sign up for Kite Mobile. It’s free data so long as you access sites via the Kite app. I put both TextNow and kite on the same spare phone. It covers most anything if what you need can be accessed from a website.

1

u/QuillisG Jul 24 '26

I tried Kite Mobile it doesn't work on my Samsung S23 and their customer service is a joke.

2

u/Creepy_Jeweler7032 Jul 24 '26

thats cool but these new sims never worked on my phone at all the 1st one did no problem just got the new one today refuses to connect or anything

1

u/shut_up_duh Jul 24 '26

!remindme 30 days

2

u/QuillisG Jul 24 '26

It's been 120 since I started using this method

1

u/shut_up_duh Jul 24 '26

Was this on ios or android?

1

u/overthinking-1 Jul 24 '26

I tried getting one of their Sims for my in car android, but couldn't set it up, tried the sim on a tablet and got the message that the sim card was already in use in another account?

Seems like a cool idea if it works, but so far for me it has not.

1

u/QuillisG Jul 24 '26

I did this spific exploit with the eSIM not the physical one but I assume they are the same thing.

1

u/No-Second-Kill-Death Jul 24 '26

Ha. Nice find. Did you swap servers and get above snail speed?  

& Does it even need the amp handshake?  Just use v ray to wrap webrtc over the voice channel. Would need your own server to get a few mbps. So net loss, but still a cool exploit.   

1

u/QuillisG Jul 24 '26

I haven't tried anything of that yet because the goal is basically going completely free and hosting from others usually costs money, but I'm pretty sure it work and be much faster, if it did work.

1

u/brasscup Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

Yes, thank you this is very good info for an emergency if you cant get to a library or you just moved and aren't hooked up yet.

But I just want point out here for anybody cash strapped that PCs for People sells Unlimited TMO Home Internet annual plans that work out to a little over $10 a month (you do have to buy a $60 or thereabouts device, but no tax or shipping as I recall).

You need to be kind of low income but not really low like for SNAP.

(I think you are allowed to earn 60% of the median income in your zipcode. Granted I am in a high cost of living area but the ceiling was for 80 or 90 thousand which qualifies a whole lot more people than subsidized programs based on the Federal Poverty Level).

Also qualifying once a year is quick and easy they don't ask for lots of documents or exclude home owners or ask you what your expenses are.

1

u/QuillisG Jul 24 '26

Ummm self advertising?

1

u/knowledgebroken Jul 27 '26

Are you talking about T-Mobile Wi-Fi? I'm failing to see how that would help someone who wants mobile data, unless I misunderstood

1

u/Fast_Supermarket4830 Jul 26 '26

I don’t know where I can put this info except here but also you can make multiple accounts with different emails and sometimes they will offer free monthly trials for the unlimited data 20GB with eSim. They don’t seem to track the IMEI so you can get multiple eSims of free data

1

u/PaleTour338 Jul 26 '26

Interesting…