SMS via Web App

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EzShmeezy.

Most cell phones out there have an email address. For example mine is 405xxxyyyy@somethinglike.att.net. Whenever I email that it comes to me as an SMS. I have various PHP script that send me notifications during the day.

In PHP it is the mail() function.
 
But this is for common folks who aren't setting up mobile e-mail addresses for themselves. It would need to be a field marked "Send to your phone"... they fill out their number and hit "Send".

Bingo bango done like that. Now I just need to figure out the bingo bango part.
 
This is actually a growing market in Australia, Europe and Asia. I just chunked a brochure from a company I picked up in Sydney when I visited, but you should be able to find this kind of stuff at the service provider level pretty easily in markets outside America (we're the least mobile friendly market in the developed world I think). Here's one I Googled up:

emailbrain | Smart Email and SMS Communication

Of course you can probably get a contract directly with the SMS gateways somehow, but I really don't know much about that.
 
O.........K.... that script does EXACTLY what I said in the first place. It sends it via email. Except it sends to teleflip whatever the heck that is. It looks a service that flips the message to right email address. Really no diff than what I said.

OP.... people don't have to set up anything for the method I said to work. It is just there when you have the cell phone. I could send email to any ten digit AT&T number (as an example) and I know they would get it. No setup needed on their part.

here are the more common ones in North America:
T-Mobile:phonenumber@tmomail.net
Virgin Mobile:phonenumber@vmobl.com
Cingular:phonenumber@cingularme.com
Sprint:phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com
Nextel: phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com

I suppose what you could do is just send the same message to all of them. It is bound to get through then. Or just ask the user who their provider is.
 
OP... that second script from NonProphet is better. It gives you the drop down box to do it directly by asking the user who their carrier is:

PHP: 
 <select name=carrer id=carrer>
      <option>-=Select A Carrer=-</option>
        <option value=@message.alltel.com>Alltel</option>
        <option value=@myboostmobile.com>Boost</option>
        <option value=@mobile.mycingular.com>Cingular</option>
        <option value=@messaging.nextel.com>Nextel</option>
        <option value=@tmomail.net>T-Mobile USA</option>
        <option value=@vtext.com>Verizon Wireless</option>
        <option value=@vmobl.com>Virgin Mobile USA</option>
      </select>
 
Yeah... but you are relying on a 3rd party... who is going to send it to the exact same address anyways. Which has a better chance of going out of business - Teleflip or AT&T?

Don't ask them their provider. Just shoot the email to all of the carriers with the ten digit number. All but one of them will fail. I bet teleflip does the exact same thing.
 
patrick24601 said:
Yeah... but you are relying on a 3rd party... who is going to send it to the exact same address anyways. Which has a better chance of going out of business - Teleflip or AT&T?

Don't ask them their provider. Just shoot the email to all of the carriers with the ten digit number. All but one of them will fail. I bet teleflip does the exact same thing.
Click to expand...

You have a point on the third party aspect, but who's saying you have to send it to the same exact address?
 
patrick24601 said:
Don't ask them their provider. Just shoot the email to all of the carriers with the ten digit number. All but one of them will fail. I bet teleflip does the exact same thing.
Click to expand...


How would this effect the efficency of your site/app? Its one thing if your only sending a hand full of emails, but what if your sending emails out to your entire user base? That number would rack up pretty quick having to send out ~6 emails per user.
 
How the hell would TeleFlip possibly know which number goes to which carrier? With number portability, it can change at anytime.
 
audax said:
How the hell would TeleFlip possibly know which number goes to which carrier? With number portability, it can change at anytime.
Click to expand...

Like patrick said earlier, they probably push an email to all possible carriers. I'm not saying they are the solution, just an option.
 
In OKC I used to be able to tell by the exchange 405xxx what carrier they had. No good any more. The most efficient way is ask the carrier. For the fewest number of clicks provide a radio button list.
 
Give a list to choose from, if they know the carrier, great. If they don't, then they can choose the not sure/don't know option. If they choose that option, send it out to all six.
 
To add on to what the last poster said...

If you have any kind of confirmation code going send a different confirmation code to each of the 6. When they confirm their receipt you will know which one it is.

If you did it this way you'd never have to ask for the carrier ;)
 
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