Comments on: Open Source SMS Text Messaging Application

By: Creg Fielding

Creg Fielding — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:43:54 +0000

TxtWire has a web service that will return the cell phone carrier. Just pass it a phone number and it will tell you who the carrier is even if the phone number is ported from one carrier to another. Our database is updated daily so even numbers that are ported today report correctly tomorrow.

If you would like a demo account call. We have several large corporations and online software vendors using the service.

cfielding@txtwire.com
http://www.txtwire.com

By: Kyle2008

Kyle2008 — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:45:34 +0000

Great post DC. Very interesting approach to sending SMS. Is the source code for this actually available anywhere?

Thanks!

By: JustUs1776

JustUs1776 — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:21:43 +0000

Great post. I’m a LAMP Developer and I was wondering if anyone has been able to build their own GSM server. That is, a server that can utilize a GSM modem to send direct, local messages to cell or IP phones. I’m working for a not-for-profit health care organization and have a suite of applications that I’d like to improve communication turn around time by sending SMS messages our nurses IP phones and our Physician’s cell phones. I’ve found a ton of services that are all cost prohibitive and was hoping for an open source solution.

By: Roy

Roy — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 05:21:13 +0000

My son’s teacher would like to be able to send short text messages to students. I’m looking for a simple solution that would allow him to broadcast to 20-40 students a “reminder” about class info. This article looks very promising, but It appears to be server based. Can this type of program be modified to run run stand-a-lone, ie flash drive, desktop…?

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 04:24:16 +0000

Hi, David;

Great and helpful site. I was hoping that you could provide a little more help in the form pointing me in the right directions.

I have sms content that I believe people will be willing to pay for, per sms. Ideally, they would send a request via sms, and they would then receive my content via sms. They would pay for it, and I would get a cut, per sms.

Do you know of any services that can help me with this (I imagine they will take a cut, or include advertising)?

Not ideal, but if that doesn’t work, is there a service that will set up my content to be delivered once a person subscribes, and pays a monthly fee?

I am new to the sms business and technology side of things, but have killer content to get into the hands of users, and need help with how.

Thanks so much for any and all suggestions,

Best,

Matt

By: Anu

Anu — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:55:20 +0000

Hello Ian,

I am working on an SMS emergency alert application for my school and we are looking into using Clickatell. How happy have you been with their service? Any complaints? Would you recommend them? Do School’s Out and CampusWire both use Clickatell? I am trying to grasp the whole setup and I am wondering why should one use these when they can directly sign up with Clickatell? Could you clarify that for me?

Thanks,
Anu

BTW, great post DC.

By: Brian Caine

Brian Caine — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:00:56 +0000

Great idea. I was looking for SMS info and finally stumbled across your post. I am a school teacher who is looking for ways to successfully implement cell phones in class, so our district will get over its arcane policies, and was wondering if someone would care to help a relatively novice programmer set up a system. I am strong with basic web programming, but novice with SQL and PHP, my remotely hosted site has plenty of options for the database, but any help/walkthrough would be much appreciated.

By: ian

ian — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:20:41 +0000

Craig, I haven’t done anything with MMS.

I am currently using clickatell.com for my SMS delivery.

Housing your own SMS gateway requires direct connections and agreements with the major carriers. This is probably cost prohibitive to most companies.

By: Craig Sour

Craig Sour — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:12:49 +0000

Ian,

Great to see good feedback on a technology such as SMS on your site. SMS is quickly becoming a common tool of use in our daily lives. This is proven by the recent unlimited everything offers from all the carriers.

My question is this:

Is there a way to house your own SMS gateway solution and effectively reach your targeted audience. We are looking at providing a service to communicate with thousands of people daily but the volume varies day-to-day.

Do you do anything with MMS? I would really like to explore this but am told that we should build a custom application for phones to do this…what do you think?

Craig

By: dc

dc — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:30:29 +0000

Hi Mike:

You may want to take a look at what Ian is doing at School’s Out and Campus Wire.

http://www.schoolsout.com/

http://www.thecampuswire.com/

Good luck with your project.