7 ms·

Hi HN, We've been working in Rwanda for the past three years building interactive SMS systems for NGOs. This is our take on how to build a platform instead of

Hi HN, We've been working in Rwanda for the past three years building interactive SMS systems for NGOs. This is our take on how to build a platform instead of custom systems to handle a lot of the needs here. We think it probably has some uses in the west as well. Happy to answer any questions and respond to comments, curious to hear everybody's feedback. (please be gentle, not in the face!)

mkessy 13y ago
Hi, this looks like a great product. It looks like you've built this with a focus on helping NGOs and their information gathering needs. Have you guys done any work with more focus on consumer apps, for example a sms based weather app? What is the field like for software of that sort? I'm hoping you could point me in the direction of people doing work like that. Is it common for east africans to ever use their phones for uses other than calling? Are there any sms services that are in widespread use? Sorry for inundating you with questions, I'm just curious about this area of development. Thanks.
josh2600 13y ago
Hi! Thanks for submitting this. I'm a big telecom geek and I am curious about your connection to the phone network (specifically, how are you enabling these SMS to actually go out?). Is this sitting on top of something like Twilio, or do you have an underlying switch? What's the magic here? Is this just an interface for laying out SMS strategies or is there more to this? It looks visually appealing, I think you did an excellent job on the site, but the technical portion is difficult for me to divine. Thank you for the hard work! Edit: Wait, is this not SMS and actually just a messaging service delivered over the top? If so, calling it SMS is sort of dubious. Would adore some clarification.
- enewcomer 13y ago
  Hey Josh, One of the devs here.. There's several different ways your TextIt app can be deployed depending on where you are located. When you sign up, we present the geographically appropriate options for you. In some cases you will see Twilio, others you will get direct connections with a carrier. However, no matter where you are we also have a pretty robust Android app (free on Google Play) that can facilitate 2-way SMS anywhere in the world.
  - josh2600 13y ago
    Awesome! Thank you so much :). Can you tell me a bit about what your experience setting up the direct connections was like? Frankly, I do this for a living and I'm curious what it's like for others. Dealing with global carriers is hit or miss for me. It's either BOOM DONE or years of waiting in vain. What was your experience like? I admit, most of my conversations are focused on Europe and Asia so I'd be quite curious about your experiences in Africa or elsewhere. Thanks!!! Edit: To clarify, where are you unable to get carrier agreements?
    - nicpottier 13y ago
      No you can get carrier agreements, and we have in Rwanda, but that's not a business model we particularly want to go after. We've had the same experience as your own, sometimes it is really quick, other times it takes forever or just isn't possible. But there are plenty of aggregators out there trying to expand and cover all the markets, and in time they will get to Rwanda and the rest of Africa I'm sure. So we are focused more on providing a platform that lets you build the app, and using the (rather effective) stop gap of an Android phone to bridge until the day we can use Twilio right here in Kigali.
      - josh2600 13y ago
        Thanks for the reply. One word of caution: not all aggregators are equal. I've had experiences where aggregators had their master aggregator change their rate to a particular destination and that aggregator then had to 3x their rates to our client. Not fun. Telecom is a pretty messy world :/. Again, thanks for sharing, I really appreciate your time!
- nicpottier 13y ago
  Just to build on what Eric said, we either use a single Android phone to relay messages for you or integrate with Twilio or another aggregator. We work a lot in Africa and there are no Twilios here, and integrating with multiple carriers is both really expensive and really time consuming. So what we do instead is have the organization that is deploying a TextIt buy a cheap Android phone (they are less than $100) and load our app on it. From then on SMS messages that are received by the phone are forwarded to TextIt and we route replies through it. It works amazingly well and lets people deploy apps literally anywhere in just a few minutes.
  - mrtimo 13y ago
    just curious, how much does it cost to send/receive SMS on a cell phone in Rwanda or other parts of Africa? I see there is a limit of 30 messages in 30 minutes, is this carrier induced?
    - nicpottier 13y ago
      The 30/30 limit is actually an Android limit, and one we get around if you install the 'message packs'. We've had handsets send around 1000 messages an hour without problem. SMS prices vary a lot by plan and country, but here in Rwanda it is 10 RWFs per SMS on carrier, which translates to about 1.5cs. There are various promotions you can get to lower that further, in Kenya you can buy a message pack that brings the price down to less than .5c each. Oh note that it is always free to receive calls and SMS messages in Africa, as everything is pre-paid.
      - yread 13y ago
        That's brilliant! I've worked in SMS business and dealing with the aggregators and their shitty connections was really annoying. If you have such low prices for messages you can't be on roaming right? So you have to have a phone in each of the countries? Also have you considered the legal side of the business - there is massive amount of regulation in a lot of countries (not only western, I remember we worked in SA and it was regulated too) - would you just disable accounts after abuse or are you monitoring it?
ernestipark 13y ago
I taught a programming/entrepreneurship course a few years ago in Kigali through aiti.mit.edu at KIST and a few companies came out of it working on SMS apps. This app seems to make a lot of sense and seems well done. Good luck!
- jadoaime 13y ago
  Hey, Park, I am Jean and I was in your Aiti class 2010 in KIST. Nice to seevyou here. I am a fan of Textit and the company that created it. They are coming up with great sms technologies that are appropriate for Africa. Big up to Nic and Eric, you are doing a wonderful work.
sleepyhead 13y ago
I think this not only looks like a great app but also really hope to see more startups focusing on the needs in developing countries. How did you end up going there and building this? Was it sort of a by-product of working with an NGO or did you specifically go to Rwanda to do a mobile startup in a developing country?
- nicpottier 13y ago
  That's kind of a subject for a blog post which I've been meaning to write.. but ya, Eric and I ended up Rwanda just because we wanted to do something different with our software skills. So we moved here, started a company, hired on some brilliant devs and started working with various NGOs which introduced us to how SMS is a really useful tool. Eventually we decided we wanted to do something better than the current tools available, something that could be used easily by NGOs large and small and that's where TextIt came in. Lots of twists and turns in that story of course, but that's the cliff notes.
timthimmaiah 13y ago
Nic(or Josh), You guys have an awesome service here! I have a question about your website, if you don't mind, what are you guys using for the 'feedback' tool in the bottom right corner? It's pretty friggen awesome.
- nicpottier 13y ago
  Isn't it!? That's an early release of User Voice's new feedback widget. We love it extra double much because it fits in with our look and feel so much. Highly recommend them, they have a great service.

mkessy 13y ago

Hi, this looks like a great product. It looks like you've built this with a focus on helping NGOs and their information gathering needs. Have you guys done any work with more focus on consumer apps, for example a sms based weather app? What is the field like for software of that sort? I'm hoping you could point me in the direction of people doing work like that. Is it common for east africans to ever use their phones for uses other than calling? Are there any sms services that are in widespread use? Sorry for inundating you with questions, I'm just curious about this area of development. Thanks.

josh2600 13y ago

Hi! Thanks for submitting this. I'm a big telecom geek and I am curious about your connection to the phone network (specifically, how are you enabling these SMS to actually go out?). Is this sitting on top of something like Twilio, or do you have an underlying switch? What's the magic here? Is this just an interface for laying out SMS strategies or is there more to this? It looks visually appealing, I think you did an excellent job on the site, but the technical portion is difficult for me to divine. Thank you for the hard work! Edit: Wait, is this not SMS and actually just a messaging service delivered over the top? If so, calling it SMS is sort of dubious. Would adore some clarification.

enewcomer 13y ago
Hey Josh, One of the devs here.. There's several different ways your TextIt app can be deployed depending on where you are located. When you sign up, we present the geographically appropriate options for you. In some cases you will see Twilio, others you will get direct connections with a carrier. However, no matter where you are we also have a pretty robust Android app (free on Google Play) that can facilitate 2-way SMS anywhere in the world.
- josh2600 13y ago
  Awesome! Thank you so much :). Can you tell me a bit about what your experience setting up the direct connections was like? Frankly, I do this for a living and I'm curious what it's like for others. Dealing with global carriers is hit or miss for me. It's either BOOM DONE or years of waiting in vain. What was your experience like? I admit, most of my conversations are focused on Europe and Asia so I'd be quite curious about your experiences in Africa or elsewhere. Thanks!!! Edit: To clarify, where are you unable to get carrier agreements?
  - nicpottier 13y ago
    No you can get carrier agreements, and we have in Rwanda, but that's not a business model we particularly want to go after. We've had the same experience as your own, sometimes it is really quick, other times it takes forever or just isn't possible. But there are plenty of aggregators out there trying to expand and cover all the markets, and in time they will get to Rwanda and the rest of Africa I'm sure. So we are focused more on providing a platform that lets you build the app, and using the (rather effective) stop gap of an Android phone to bridge until the day we can use Twilio right here in Kigali.
    - josh2600 13y ago
      Thanks for the reply. One word of caution: not all aggregators are equal. I've had experiences where aggregators had their master aggregator change their rate to a particular destination and that aggregator then had to 3x their rates to our client. Not fun. Telecom is a pretty messy world :/. Again, thanks for sharing, I really appreciate your time!
nicpottier 13y ago
Just to build on what Eric said, we either use a single Android phone to relay messages for you or integrate with Twilio or another aggregator. We work a lot in Africa and there are no Twilios here, and integrating with multiple carriers is both really expensive and really time consuming. So what we do instead is have the organization that is deploying a TextIt buy a cheap Android phone (they are less than $100) and load our app on it. From then on SMS messages that are received by the phone are forwarded to TextIt and we route replies through it. It works amazingly well and lets people deploy apps literally anywhere in just a few minutes.
- mrtimo 13y ago
  just curious, how much does it cost to send/receive SMS on a cell phone in Rwanda or other parts of Africa? I see there is a limit of 30 messages in 30 minutes, is this carrier induced?
  - nicpottier 13y ago
    The 30/30 limit is actually an Android limit, and one we get around if you install the 'message packs'. We've had handsets send around 1000 messages an hour without problem. SMS prices vary a lot by plan and country, but here in Rwanda it is 10 RWFs per SMS on carrier, which translates to about 1.5cs. There are various promotions you can get to lower that further, in Kenya you can buy a message pack that brings the price down to less than .5c each. Oh note that it is always free to receive calls and SMS messages in Africa, as everything is pre-paid.
    - yread 13y ago
      That's brilliant! I've worked in SMS business and dealing with the aggregators and their shitty connections was really annoying. If you have such low prices for messages you can't be on roaming right? So you have to have a phone in each of the countries? Also have you considered the legal side of the business - there is massive amount of regulation in a lot of countries (not only western, I remember we worked in SA and it was regulated too) - would you just disable accounts after abuse or are you monitoring it?

ernestipark 13y ago

I taught a programming/entrepreneurship course a few years ago in Kigali through aiti.mit.edu at KIST and a few companies came out of it working on SMS apps. This app seems to make a lot of sense and seems well done. Good luck!

jadoaime 13y ago
Hey, Park, I am Jean and I was in your Aiti class 2010 in KIST. Nice to seevyou here. I am a fan of Textit and the company that created it. They are coming up with great sms technologies that are appropriate for Africa. Big up to Nic and Eric, you are doing a wonderful work.

sleepyhead 13y ago

I think this not only looks like a great app but also really hope to see more startups focusing on the needs in developing countries. How did you end up going there and building this? Was it sort of a by-product of working with an NGO or did you specifically go to Rwanda to do a mobile startup in a developing country?

nicpottier 13y ago
That's kind of a subject for a blog post which I've been meaning to write.. but ya, Eric and I ended up Rwanda just because we wanted to do something different with our software skills. So we moved here, started a company, hired on some brilliant devs and started working with various NGOs which introduced us to how SMS is a really useful tool. Eventually we decided we wanted to do something better than the current tools available, something that could be used easily by NGOs large and small and that's where TextIt came in. Lots of twists and turns in that story of course, but that's the cliff notes.

timthimmaiah 13y ago

Nic(or Josh), You guys have an awesome service here! I have a question about your website, if you don't mind, what are you guys using for the 'feedback' tool in the bottom right corner? It's pretty friggen awesome.

nicpottier 13y ago
Isn't it!? That's an early release of User Voice's new feedback widget. We love it extra double much because it fits in with our look and feel so much. Highly recommend them, they have a great service.