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i thought the only way you could do this was with Twilio or something

teach 11y ago
If you've got a VPS like most of us do, you're right. Unless you can convince your VPS provider to stick the GSM modem in your server rack....
- voltagex_ 11y ago
  Oh the stories I could tell you of some old Nokia phone that was actually in a datacenter for an app I worked on. There was no cell reception in the new datacenter location, so that method was decommissioned.
api 11y ago
I have code to 'curl' Twilio to notify me of certain things that need attention. It works and it's really cheap.
zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 11y ago
Serious question: How can you think that if you can buy wireless computers that can send and reveive SMS via their wireless connection ... that the only way to do so would be via some internet service?!? edit: hello idiots! you might not believe it, but downvoting doesn't actually answer my question.
javajosh 11y ago
This is a technique for a cheap DIY Twilio.
- Animats 11y ago
  Whether or not it's cheaper varies by country. US Mobile claims $9/month (plus undisclosed fees) for "unlimited" SMS, which isn't bad.
dzhiurgis 11y ago
Advantage of Twillio (besides an actual API) is ability to get a short number. Unfortunately they do not serve every single market.
carlosdp 11y ago
It's arguably a lot easier to use Twilio for something like this because there's no hardware needed and you can be up and running in about 5 minutes for a simple setup. That said, the real difference here is probably that Twilio allows you to buy a bunch of numbers cheap so you can scale SMS. Carriers sometimes filter out messages if they are sent too often by one number, so it helps to spread the load across several if you are talking to a lot of users (and services like Twilio handle rate-limiting for you). This is really cool though, the second SMS hardware hack I've seen on here this week. Glad to see people playing more in this space (especially in theatre, my other passion). Disclaimer: I work for Twilio
- MichaelMarner 11y ago
  Hi Carlo. Yep, a nice service that gives you an API is a real winner, and you can send messages much faster. We didn't go that route because we were projecting out of a van. in rural South Australia, and had no data connection. This was actually put together for an interactive, mixed media theatre project, If There Was A Colour Darker Than Black I'd Wear It. I've posted the followup on my website: http://www.20papercups.net/software-projects/an-interactive-projection-mapped-graffiti-wall/ http://www.20papercups.net/software-projects/an-interactive-... Cheers

teach 11y ago

If you've got a VPS like most of us do, you're right. Unless you can convince your VPS provider to stick the GSM modem in your server rack....

voltagex_ 11y ago
Oh the stories I could tell you of some old Nokia phone that was actually in a datacenter for an app I worked on. There was no cell reception in the new datacenter location, so that method was decommissioned.

api 11y ago

I have code to 'curl' Twilio to notify me of certain things that need attention. It works and it's really cheap.

zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 11y ago

Serious question: How can you think that if you can buy wireless computers that can send and reveive SMS via their wireless connection ... that the only way to do so would be via some internet service?!? edit: hello idiots! you might not believe it, but downvoting doesn't actually answer my question.

javajosh 11y ago

This is a technique for a cheap DIY Twilio.

Animats 11y ago
Whether or not it's cheaper varies by country. US Mobile claims $9/month (plus undisclosed fees) for "unlimited" SMS, which isn't bad.

dzhiurgis 11y ago

Advantage of Twillio (besides an actual API) is ability to get a short number. Unfortunately they do not serve every single market.

carlosdp 11y ago

It's arguably a lot easier to use Twilio for something like this because there's no hardware needed and you can be up and running in about 5 minutes for a simple setup. That said, the real difference here is probably that Twilio allows you to buy a bunch of numbers cheap so you can scale SMS. Carriers sometimes filter out messages if they are sent too often by one number, so it helps to spread the load across several if you are talking to a lot of users (and services like Twilio handle rate-limiting for you). This is really cool though, the second SMS hardware hack I've seen on here this week. Glad to see people playing more in this space (especially in theatre, my other passion). Disclaimer: I work for Twilio

MichaelMarner 11y ago
Hi Carlo. Yep, a nice service that gives you an API is a real winner, and you can send messages much faster. We didn't go that route because we were projecting out of a van. in rural South Australia, and had no data connection. This was actually put together for an interactive, mixed media theatre project, If There Was A Colour Darker Than Black I'd Wear It. I've posted the followup on my website: http://www.20papercups.net/software-projects/an-interactive-projection-mapped-graffiti-wall/ http://www.20papercups.net/software-projects/an-interactive-... Cheers