Find a way to send sms for free

[blakebyrnes]

Right now, they cost 1 cent a piece. If we deploy this app, there's no guarantee this won't just be used as a way to create a ton of text messages for free. That's a lot of cost for us to absorb.

[stephenreid]

Maybe we need to activate it for emergencies (w/ a root key for testing and development) (and clients red cross / etc would create events) to prevent people from spamming.

If we run out of Twilio credits in development, let me know, I can steal some from an evangelist.

[ I'm still figuring out the comment system too]

[blakebyrnes]

I was thinking one other option could be to send an sms directly if you get a connection and you're the sender.

[blakebyrnes]

Also, I think I had a comment here before - I think Google Voice has a free API.

[stephenreid]

There is an unofficial google voice API, but being as we're an org and our usage shouldn't be that high (unless we are being use maliciously) - I don't really think we should implement a way that is against terms of service to send messages.

[stephenreid]

In terms of sending from the sending phone's number.

• Externally, that adds a lot of overhead to the cell network.
• Privacy concerns of now everybody that is messaged might send messages back to the sending phone.
• Cost concerns? Texts are charged at a much higher rate than data on a lot of iphone plans

[blakebyrnes]

Agreed. Just suggesting that if you send a text message through the system (you yourself), that if a connection becomes available, it defaults to sending directly instead of through our servers. This would essentially just block people from getting out of text costs by sending them through our system.

To recap - I agree we should not send text messages through your account on behalf of other people. Just your own messages.

On Jun 17, 2011, at 1:56 PM, stephenreid wrote:

In terms of sending from the sending phone's number.

• Externally, that adds a lot of overhead to the cell network.
• Privacy concerns of now everybody that is messaged might send messages back to the sending phone.
• Cost concerns? Texts are charged at a much higher rate than data on a lot of iphone plans

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub:
#1 (comment)

[haz]

From a disaster relief stand-point, telecoms usually pony up and provide services for free when it's a crisis situation. There may be a way to interface the sms' with the disaster relief software to make this easier.

Another option (although it adds significant complexity) is to only send sms' if a prepaid balance is high enough. This means the users need to register with message carrier, but that is also required if you want proper encryption (something I'll bring up in another issue).

Update: I was confused as to why you guys closed / opened this a few times. What a horrible UX bug :P

[stephenreid]

I can get us more Twilio credit in case of disaster (or for more testing) within a couple of hours by sending 1 email / tweet.

I just don't think that this is a major thing to even consider changing up.