SMS Discount

apollodjs

:mad: Just a heads up to anyone who uses SMS Discount to send texts they have increased there rates to 2c per message ok I know its only 1c increase for now!! but it would have been nice if they had given some warning all the same. if you use AFT and add gprs charges to this its nearly cheaper to just but a text bundle

Anyone know of any other service where you can buy bulk sms for 1c each?

The Corinthian

I do, but you would need to redefine your definition of bulk.

If you want to deal in 1c SMS's then realistically you're looking at buying a minimum of several hundreds of thousands and also need to send them via an SMPP connection. Even then, you may never get to use all your SMS's as the gateway in question may get either blocked or the business in question go under at a moment's notice.

Realistically, for lower volumes you'll typically be paying anything between 3.5c and 8c. SMS Discount is cheaper, but has its own drawbacks.

Irish Wolf

apollodjs wrote:

:mad: Just a heads up to anyone who uses SMS Discount to send texts they have increased there rates to 2c per message ok I know its only 1c increase for now!! but it would have been nice if they had given some warning all the same. if you use AFT and add gprs charges to this its nearly cheaper to just but a text bundle

Anyone know of any other service where you can buy bulk sms for 1c each?

Wonders where you're getting these extremely cheap text bundles (esp. to international numbers)...

2c still sounds pretty damn cheap to me..

dal

apollodjs wrote:

:mad: Just a heads up to anyone who uses SMS Discount to send texts they have increased there rates to 2c per message.

Dang, that's a bit sneaky. They are still 1c for me as I am up north now, but I am sure that will increase fairly soon too.
I always figured it was a "take advantage of it while you can" kind of thing with smsdiscount.

[EDIT]
I have just noticed that I am sometimes being charged 5c for some of the texts thru AFT. I am not sure why this is. Perhaps something to do with the location of the AFT server and how the message is routed. Be sure to check your "recent calls" on your smsdiscount account page to see how much you are being charged.

Terrontress

Ah, that is quite sneaky.

Still cheaper for me though so I will perservere with them.

500 texts for €10 compared to 3 mobile's 200 texts for €10 is still fairly good.

Not as good but still good.

nazoil

the 1c text was always a mystery to me. the smsdiscount website is ambiguous with some considerable mention of 5 cent texting.

if we could get a version of aft with option to use our own webspace, traffic would be cut down from the aft server and the suits mightn't take any notice

dal

nazoil wrote:

the 1c text was always a mystery to me. the smsdiscount website is ambiguous with some considerable mention of 5 cent texting.

if we could get a version of aft with option to use our own webspace, traffic would be cut down from the aft server and the suits mightn't take any notice

But the suits don't take any notice as it is.

donutface

soon enough ill upload the AFT gateway source, im just busy finishing off the Pocket PC client which will also have support for users to have their own gateways


Edit: Anyone know of any other cheap text services?

apollodjs

How do these work? If I was in the uk I could send messages again for 1c? so is it down to your ip address? where is the AFT server? if we had a server in the UK or in Spain or somewhere where messages are 1c and a script to send them we could get them for 1c again? is this right?

dal

apollodjs wrote:

How do these work? If I was in the uk I could send messages again for 1c? so is it down to your ip address? where is the AFT server? if we had a server in the UK or in Spain or somewhere where messages are 1c and a script to send them we could get them for 1c again? is this right?

I think it is down to your ip address. If I send a text through the sms discount web interface from my computer here in Belfast to a UK number, I am charged 1c. However, if I use AFT to send the same message from my phone then I am charged 5c.
I should say that this 5c charge is only very recent and even seems intermittent (perhaps the aft server sometimes uses a different proxy sometimes?)

I should also say that I am with o2 uk.

I might look at calling the sms discount url directly from the java application, but it is https so there will be more data transfer. Not sure if the gprs charge would then be to high.

donutface

AFT doesnt use proxies for SMSdiscount

and the server is located in amsterdam so in theory with that it should only be dutch numbers free

dal

Just topped up by 10 euro.
The cheeky feckers also now charge E 2.50 on top of the 10 euro (50c handling charge + 19% Vat). #
I am pretty sure it was E 1.50 before



Also, it's strange, this is how it's working for me, I am in Belfast:

AFT to text a UK number: 5c
AFT to text a Irish number: 2c

SMS Disc web page to text UK number: 1c
SMS Disc web page to text irish number: 2c

dal

Just as a quick update to my last post. All messages that I send are now costing 2c.

mcguyver

apollodjs wrote:

How do these work? If I was in the uk I could send messages again for 1c? so is it down to your ip address? where is the AFT server? if we had a server in the UK or in Spain or somewhere where messages are 1c and a script to send them we could get them for 1c again? is this right?

I think it just depends on what country you are texting so if you text Ireland it costs 2c doesn't matter what country your in if you text Italy its cost 7.5c etc. There the rates for everyone from what I can see.

Terrontress

Every way I am looking at it though, it is still cheaper than 3 if you send 75% Irish texts, 25% international, which is what I do. Looking at my May bill, I spent almost €17 on international texts. I got AFT at the end of June, topped up by €10 and am still going strong. Will have to check my balance later. I can only do it on the computer, not on the phone, and my work has firewalled their site.

dal

Terrontress wrote:

Every way I am looking at it though, it is still cheaper than 3 if you send 75% Irish texts, 25% international, which is what I do. Looking at my May bill, I spent almost €17 on international texts. I got AFT at the end of June, topped up by €10 and am still going strong. Will have to check my balance later. I can only do it on the computer, not on the phone, and my work has firewalled their site.

Not to mention if you go roaming. This is a much, much cheaper option.

mcguyver

As long as they dont keep hiking up the price as they are knowen to do its all good.

nazoil

donutface wrote:

Edit: Anyone know of any other cheap text services?

just got an email from this crowd
offering 1 cent texts.

the smsdiscount rates are here. cost IS actually 2.4 c. They, like Skype obscure the VAT charge. mobisms do 2.8 cent texts

apollodjs

mobisms tag the end of all your messages with "<mobisms>" don't like this.