SMS Gateway Comparison: SMSGlobal Vs Tropo(dcwilkie.wordpress.com) |
SMS Gateway Comparison: SMSGlobal Vs Tropo(dcwilkie.wordpress.com) |
Words cannot describe how crazy I think picking a platform based on $10 of costs for development is, by the way.
-jeff twilio.com
His name's David Wilkie (not betraying any confidence - he lists his name in those email threads he posted).
I don't know him personally, but he's been a regular in our IRC channel over the last couple of months. I believe he's a web developer living in Vietnam. Why do you ask?
If you have an Android phone around, you can just run your own gateway from it: http://kalsms.net
Put an unlimited SMS plan SIM card in the phone, scan the QR image, configure two settings and you're done, anywhere in the world.
Never used it in anything with enough volume to care about a cent or two here and there, the API is excellent, and incoming messages work a treat too.
Related: I also like http://tringme.com/ for actual calls, although their documentation and support is terrific (or was when I checked), their service is pretty good once you understand how the hell to use it.
At the small scale spending $100 or so to have an unlimited test system seems comparable, and for large scale I'd much rather be buying a few unlimited SMS plans than paying per message. If the wireless provider supports SMS over GPRS you can do something like 30/min so you may never need more than one modem and sim. I wonder if it is just the barrier to entry, since you have to know that such a thing is possible and hunt down hardware/software to fit your needs rather than just buying in to one of these companies' pitches.
Companies choose to work with an SMS provider because they don't want to have to solve uptime, scale, and service issues themselves.
When you're small, running your company on a web server under your desk connected to your cable modem probably works just fine. Doing the equivalent with SMS might make sense at that stage, too. As you grow, your needs change.
One thing to note is that in the US, "unlimited" plans aren't actually unlimited. Read the fine print on your contracts. Carriers define a limit to the number of messages they consider to be reasonable use. It's a soft limit, so they don't immediately block or ban you for going over once in a while. But if you do it consistently, they'll start to charge for the overage.
also I chose to get a bigger 8 port modem from here.
http://www.bailing88.com/en/product_view.asp?hw_id=119
I definitely recommend their service.
works great with the latest kernel's and is usb.
seems to price out at about $50 a modem independent the size of the modem pools or a single.