January 3, 2026
Dial M for drama
Show HN: I built an international calling platform for the past 6 months
HN turns into Shark Tank over a new global phone line — praise, probing, and "Why not just call" vibes
TLDR: A maker launched a global calling service with local numbers, web calling, texts, and business features. The crowd cheered, then grilled: revenue, team size, marketing, Teams integrations, and “why not just use your phone?” — a split between fans who want it for work and skeptics asking for proof of real value.
A solo builder dropped an international calling service on Show HN and instantly lit up the comments. The pitch: real local numbers in many countries, web calling in your browser, texts from your business line, voicemail and recording, call analytics, and simple pricing for teams that work across borders. Think: a phone number that makes you look local, even if you’re halfway around the world. The maker’s bold invite — “Ask me anything about technology/revenue” — set the tone: applause met interrogation.
The thread split into two camps. Hype squad: “Loved it, it’s amazing,” plus eager buyers asking for Microsoft Teams and app integrations so this can slot into office life. Skeptic squad: the blunt, relatable question — why not just call from your regular phone — pressed the startup to prove real-world value beyond what people already have. Meanwhile, the business crowd dove into the money: how many devs, how long it took, are you making revenue, and how are you marketing. The vibe? Classic HN: cheerleaders, CFOs, and feature-hunters all dialing in at once. If the founder can land those integrations and show this saves time and builds trust with “local” numbers, the upvote chorus might get even louder.
Key Points
- •Offers real local phone numbers in many countries to establish local presence.
- •Supports browser-based calling and SMS from a business number.
- •Provides call analytics for patterns, duration, and volume to identify busiest times.
- •Centralizes voicemails and recordings, with call recording capability.
- •Encrypts connections with TLS 1.2+ and SRTP (AES-128), while PSTN-bridged calls are not encrypted.