SMS Enabled Elgg

I am looking into sms-enabling Elgg sites..

This will address

  • SMS messaging out from Elgg
  • Elgg message receiving ( involves setting up an SMS server -- more code work)

Marcus Povey has already described Elgg's ability to do this.. but I do not intend to "compete" with CurveRider's services.

When I am finished the SMS PlugIn will be available for free to non-profit Elgg-sites.

  • Running Courier as the mail server.

    Eh, pardon make that Exim. Looking at wrong server.

  • Here's one somewhat popular SMS Supplier's notes on inbound SMS ;-)

    http://www.tm4b.com/receiving-sms/sms-handling.php

    SMS API

    Using our HTTP API, SMTP API and/or SMPP Interface, your inbound SMS can be forwarded to your own remote applications in real-time. And, because the SMS gets handed over to you, handling is limited to your imagination, with examples including:

    • Dynamic responses
    • SMS-to-Database
    • SMS-to-Website
    • SMS-to-Software
    • SMS-to-SMS
    • SMS-to-Screen
    • SMS-to-TV
    • SMS-to-Blog
    • SMS-to-Voice
    • SMS-to-Braile
    • Home Automation
    • etc

    There's 2 ways to handle SMS on Elgg -

    (1) get a real commercial supplier as above and take advantage of their APIs

    or

    (2) try to make SMS EMail gateways work - which is a lotsa more coding ;-)

    So far I've been toying with the idea of making #2 work to some degree -- the "poor man's" SMS enabler.. There was a PlugIn not long age called Groups ListServe by Dan Mackie that emailed group topics out to group members and also received replies from the group and posted to the Elgg group. I think It used SMTP + POP3 for EMailing Out/In and did some funky stuff. 

    The (funny) danger though - is that people will still wanna try such heavier tech on $4 shared hosting ;-)

     

  • Exi ? i think that is just another email processor similar to procmail... before you give up.. just remember -- they're just pieces of code.. btw Dan's ListServe did not do a ProcMail solution ;-) He used a Login into the POP3 EMail account to fetch the replies back into Elgg and.. and... drop intothe Group's topics LOLZ smarty...

  • LOL it kills me the number of people I see complain about Elgg and are on cheap hosting!

    Is that groups listserve plugin still around? Be interested in seeing that.

  • Yeah it's pretty much the same as procmail, just haven't had the time to find out the issue. I'll work on that when I get around to adding outgoing SMS notifications and friend messages.

     

  • http://community.elgg.org/pg/plugins/dan_mackie/read/385014/group-listserve

    LOLZ

    " My Host shut down my site b/c... too many mysql connections/ too much memory/ too much CPU..." hee hee...

    maybe I'll give them some space on one of my ***3 dedicated servers heh;;;;;

     

  • Hmmm...

    Outgoing Elgg notifications might too generic to handle b/c SMS is limited to <=160 bytes - maybe limit to wire/ river posts or truncate all other notificns.. Lemme know what you find out. I've been reading the Elgg core code on notifications. river, etc.

    I've got no real personal interest in this SMS thingy.. just happened to have coded that IBM mainframe job abend notifier for Florida state no less ! about 1999 and now.. there are some good Elgg friends who I know just cannot afford to fund any serious development and so I'd like to do this SMS notificns for them - they cannot pay.. but for those who will not pay ;-)

    ps: just noticed u r in georgia lolz ;-) i was in Macon for abt 1 year at Geico cpl yrs backhehhh;;;

  • Well what most sites do is send a message letting the recipient know something was posted, not necessarily the details of what was posted. Sort of like "Soandso just posted a reply to your X". Most SMS will also break up longer messages into multiple pages of texts.

    Personally I won't use the feature, it annoys me. That said it IS a feature that many people do want and having it is an extra draw without having to increase costs.

    Yeah in the Atlanta area. Been here about 20 years.

  • My primary focus for now will be to study doing OutBound SMS notificns for **river entries. Yes - InBound handler will cost more effort.

    All other "notifications" handling will be a lot more effort. Of course.. CurveRider already have SMS ability coded for their own commercial customers since maybe 2 years back ;-) It's a money maker & a really smart feature.

    http://community.elgg.org/mod/groups/topicposts.php?topic=534750&group_guid=52477

    as Mark has said - some users will $pay for this feature alone. Of course this implies that such a feature/plugin *must be funded 100% - one cannot ask for freebie plugins so that *they can make money lolz...

  • Going the SMS gateway service route isn't a bad idea I don't think. You resell the 'credits' to your users for a small profit. Only drawback is you have to invest in the initial purchase of bulk credits from the gateway service provider, which from what I've seen will set you back about $500 for 10,000 credits.

    I'd add the SMS outgoing as part of the Notifications plugin. Shouldn't be that difficult to get working.