Email to SMS

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Just working on a website for a client and although I had thought about it before it was only request by them that made me explore further.

Basically, there is a PHP mailer form that when submitted goes to a specified email addy. Now the client isnt that tech literate and doesnt check email that often, but like most business tradesmen sleeps with his mobile phone.

Is there any free / subscription based "email to sms" services in Ireland. Even if it is only an alert based notification that there is a new email, it could be useful. Or is there PHP based scripting that will do the job- have looked briefly on hotscripts but nothing definitive.


Cheers for any ideas,
David.

dahamsta

Malaysia Billions Mermaid wrote:

Even if it is only an alert based notification that there is a new email, it could be useful.

You can do this with Vodafone David. Log in an go to Vodafone Mail, then Settings, you'll see a notification setting there. I think O2 had something like this in the past, but I'm not sure about now.

adam

steve-hosting36

There are also commercial gateways you can buy txt from.

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Thanks lads,

going to explore the Vodafone/02 route. I knew there were commercial gateways alright but I think they are expensive unless the throughput is sufficient to justify.

The Corinthian

We can sort you out with that kind of facility. Not for free, mind you, but we can sort you out. PM me for more details.

Webmonkey

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=1736445#post1736445

Might help you in away if you can't find an other method. PM me if u need help

b20uvkft6m5xwg

The Corinthian wrote:

We can sort you out with that kind of facility. Not for free, mind you, but we can sort you out. PM me for more details.

Thx for the messasge- I really dont think the client in question would have the volume of email to justify anyhting beyond something that vodafone offer already.

Thats not to say I might look at incorportating this into some existing clients websites in the near future.

--
@ Webmonkey- Having a look at that script now

The Corinthian

Malaysia Billions Mermaid wrote:

Thx for the messasge- I really dont think the client in question would have the volume of email to justify anyhting beyond something that vodafone offer already.

Given no one’s asked me what it would cost; I can only imagine that your client’s budget for this is approximately zero :eek:

Having a look at that script now

Fair enough, however be warned that such scripts are simply deep linking into existing services, which means that sooner or later they will simply break as those services are upgraded or changed (to stop the deep linking). Just bare that in mind if you have a maintenance contract with your client as they could quite likely demand that you reestablish the service for free if and when this happens.

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Well I have given him a quote and I want to stick to it, so anything in addition is probably going to cut into my margin. I talked to him about upgrading his vodafone package and he is fine with that.

I'm occupied fulltime with other projects at the moment so I'm taking the simple option here:)

Thx, I have noted the suggestions below.

The Corinthian wrote:

Given no one’s asked me what it would cost; I can only imagine that your client’s budget for this is approximately zero :eek:

Fair enough, however be warned that such scripts are simply deep linking into existing services, which means that sooner or later they will simply break as those services are upgraded or changed (to stop the deep linking). Just bare that in mind if you have a maintenance contract with your client as they could quite likely demand that you reestablish the service for free if and when this happens.

buddy

Upgrading his package?

Vodafone mail is free with any 087 number. Text alerts from Vodafone mail are free also.

What upgrade? Don't let him get screwed.

mneylon

buddy wrote:

Upgrading his package?

Vodafone mail is free with any 087 number. Text alerts from Vodafone mail are free also.

What upgrade? Don't let him get screwed.

I think you're missing Corinthian's point.
The services that the mobile telcos offer are not meant to be used in the same way as a commercial gateway and the companies, such as Vodafone, are within their rights to withdraw service or simply not deliver it as it is being provided as a "freebie"

We use an SMS gateway to send us notifications from our monitoring system (eg. if a service or server is having issues). We *could* use a *free* service, but we wouldn't be able to rely on it, so we use a commercial one offered by Corinthian's company.

If you don't care if/when the sms is going to be sent / arrive then a *free* service is fine, but I wouldn't recommend it for business use.

Webmonkey

Yes as said above, it could go down easily if the site structure changes. Well if you don't want to pay then i guess the script is all you can use at least

buddy

blacknight wrote:

I think you're missing Corinthian's point.
The services that the mobile telcos offer are not meant to be used in the same way as a commercial gateway and the companies, such as Vodafone, are within their rights to withdraw service or simply not deliver it as it is being provided as a "freebie"

We use an SMS gateway to send us notifications from our monitoring system (eg. if a service or server is having issues). We *could* use a *free* service, but we wouldn't be able to rely on it, so we use a commercial one offered by Corinthian's company.

If you don't care if/when the sms is going to be sent / arrive then a *free* service is fine, but I wouldn't recommend it for business use.

I think my point was missed. The original premise of this is that the customer doesn't check his mail every two minutes so would either like the email by sms or an sms to let him know that he has got an email and from whom.

If I have an 087 number and setup my free jbloggs@vodafone.ie email address, I can then set it up to text me everytime someone emails to jbloggs@vodafone.ie for free.

My sms states who sent the mail. I then run to check my mail because its important. I don't need a fancy script, I just give out my email address or design a form to send the results to my email.

The Corinthian

Could have just been a question of upgrading his package from prepay to postpay. Sounded like that kind of client to me :eek:

DS

I coded a little PHP function that sends an SMS using O2's free web text service, using cURL like Webmonkey, if anyone wants it. All you need is an O2 account. I just use it for sports news alerts.