We are sad to announce that the Ostel service is officially discontinued and permanently offline. While Guardian Project had a hand in its conception and initial implementation, the actual operation of the service was spun out long ago to be run by a new venture a member of our original team. They have kept Ostel running free of charge for many years of reliable service, but at this point it seems, they have decided they can no longer do so.

In recent months, we had discussed with them a gentle transition period to a new platform or service. Unfortunately, it seems like they decided to just pull the plug. Our apologies for the abruptness of this closure.

The good news is that since the server has no user data, logs, or other sensitive content, you have lost nothing, and have nothing to fear related to your personal information. The even better news is that encrypted video and voice calling over the Internet, is easier than ever, with Signal, Wire, JitsiMeet, Matrix, Riot, Linphone and many, many other options.