[WIP] Mobile Notifications System

[Matthew K.]

Hey everyone!

My latest 'for fun' project is called "Mobile Notifications System", the name pretty much explains the base functionality, but I'd like to expand on some of the features that will be included.

The goal is to have it be similar to how Facebook's MNS functions.

A new area is being added to profiles called "Mobile", if you haven't configured your mobile settings, it gives an introduction to the system, which will be a jQuery-based slider with text, and images. The first configuration step is to enter your mobile phone number, and the carrier you use. Once you confirm these two fields, a randomly generated verification key will be texted to the phone number using PHP's mail function, and the provided carrier extension. A limit of four attempts will be given per day, after a new key is sent, all old keys become expired and therefore are useless.

Upon confirming your mobile device you will be taken to a settings page that will allow you to define what you want to be notified via Text Message. In addition to being able to define what notices you want to receive to your mobile phone, you will also be able to define a limit of texts to send per day, and a set time-frame in/outside of which texts should or should NOT be received.

One thing I am still considering adding is whether or not the owner of the phone can "blacklist" their own number with the forum to prevent spammers from utilizing the "verification key" text to annoy a person, even though only 4 times a day. How this would work, is that the phone could go to yourforum.com/index.php?action=block_mobile, and upon entering the verification key would have the option to blacklist the number.

Anyways!

Thoughts & Comments appreciated.

[vbgamer45]

Cool idea one thing to consider.

SMTP/Email to carrier will work for small amounts of notifications but once you get over a certain threshold which varies per carrier they will stop accepting.
And with SMTP text messaging carriers do not have to accept and generally give them low priority since they are not making any money from the email to the phone from the senders side only the recipient.

[Matthew K.]

Seriously? I've never heard of that. Are there alternatives? Do you have a link to your source so I can do some reading?

What are you personal thoughts on whether it's worth continuing or not?

[vbgamer45]

I have built similar systems in the past for marketing company's. And found out it is pretty much useless for sending any real volume, and delivery is not guaranteed.  Granted we were doing some high volume sending but ran tests and noticed it was useless for anything for over 100 notices an hour if you are lucky to even get that high and varies per carrier. What we ended up doing is moving to standard SMS which we pay for people to optin and to send/receive the text messages you have to go though an aggrator or look for an api solution.  Email to phone is ok if you are doing personal tests/alerts for yourself but anything large scale email to phone number will not work well. I think JBlaze started to do a simliar mod in the past as well.

The only way around is if you are paying for the carrier. Facebook has agreements with major carriers and also look for apis

[vbgamer45]

If you want to read some third party articles check out
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4152697/simple-free-php-email-to-sms-solution
http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/php/how-to-send-text-messages-with-php/

[Matthew K.]

Meh, I already know how to build Email-to-SMS scripts, thanks for the links though.

That's really interesting...yeah, I remember when JBlaze was working on his.

Is there anything wrong (in your opinion) with completing the project and submitting it? I've never seen the problem you're describing, not that I don't believe you, but I do believe that for most sites it may work just fine.

[vbgamer45]

It would be ok for low volumes for small forums but any medium/large site. If you do it for topic replys and that sort would be too much. I would also warn users that they may or may not get the message as well since it is not guaranteed.

Links above mainly said for any high volumes you need an sms gateway to be affective.

[vbgamer45]

I would still like to see it done. I would take it use for the forum system that I run then swap out the sending code with an sms gateway.

[Matthew K.]

You found any good SMS Gateway's yet? I could program in their API as an option for people with large forums who want to pay for the subscription.

[Matthew K.]

Attaching some screenshots of the UI I have so far. Although most of my work has been in the source side.

[NanoSector]

The idea is great and the concept looks great

I'm sure that this will be useful for some people who don't have an internet connection at all times.

[Matthew K.]

The idea is great and the concept looks great

I'm sure that this will be useful for some people who don't have an internet connection at all times.

Thank you...and even for people that do, for instance, I have an iPhone, but would much rather get a text when I get a PM than having to check in every 10 minutes for a new PM, and so forth.

[NanoSector]

The idea is great and the concept looks great

I'm sure that this will be useful for some people who don't have an internet connection at all times.

Thank you...and even for people that do, for instance, I have an iPhone, but would much rather get a text when I get a PM than having to check in every 10 minutes for a new PM, and so forth.

Sure. I'd also think that some people with modern phones still prefer having notifications in their SMS inbox rather then their mailbox. At least I do, as my phone (HTC HD2 with Android 4.0 installed) doesn't check for e-mail every hour or so.

[Matthew K.]

Yep. I'd much rather not have to check for new PMs every now and then, and just know when I get one. Much more convenient. This is something I've actually been wanting to use for multiple sites of mine.

[NanoSector]

Maybe a nice idea would be that you can select who you want to receive messages for, like only for PMs from a certain person or also for replies from that person or something like that. Useful when waiting for someone to reply on your PM.

[Matthew K.]

* Labradoodle-360 grumbles and adds it to the list of features to write.

[Matthew K.]

Just finished fine-tuning the message phones receive. Here's an image directly from my iPhone (cropped out the sender address).

Thoughts and Comments welcome as usual.

[Matthew K.]

I found a list of quite a few carriers, and the extensions for them look valid from what I've seen personally.

Any thoughts, suggestions, or additions to the carrier list?

Alltel = message.alltel.com
AT&T = txt.att.net
Bell Canada = txt.bellmobility.ca
Boost Mobile = myboostmobile.com
Centennial Wireless = cwemail.com
Cellular South = csouth1.com
Cincinnati Bell = gocbw.com
Cricket Wireless = mycricket.com
Metro PCS = metropcs.sms.us
Nextel = messaging.nextel.com
Qwest = qwestmp.com
Rogers = pcs.rogers.com
Suncom = tms.suncom.com
Sprint = messaging.sprintpcs.com
T-Mobile = tmomail.net
Telus = msg.telus.com
U.S. Cellular = email.uscc.net
Verizon Wireless = vtext.com
Virgin Mobile USA = vmobl.com

[NanoSector]

It's maybe a pain, but when you have time, could you add carriers from more countries?

Like here in the NL, we have Hi, KPN, Ben and a few others.

[Matthew K.]

Sure, I'll add as many as I can, but I need a list.

[NanoSector]

Sure, I'll add as many as I can, but I need a list.

Click

[Matthew K.]

Unfortunately, Email-to-Text is a little bit more difficult than just knowing the carriers name.

Each carrier has an extension that allows email-to-text. For instance, AT&T's is [email protected] and Verizon's is @vtext.com and so forth. I need that extension for each network I add to the compatibility list or it won't work.

[NanoSector]

Unfortunately, Email-to-Text is a little bit more difficult than just knowing the carriers name.

Each carrier has an extension that allows email-to-text. For instance, AT&T's is [email protected] and Verizon's is @vtext.com and so forth. I need that extension for each network I add to the compatibility list or it won't work.

Ah, I see. I'm not into carriers, lol.

Then I can't really help you, I'm afraid

[Matthew K.]

Yeah, unfortunately I can't add a carrier without the extension

Right now, I am having some issues with Verizon Wireless phones receiving mail from the server (PHP mail() so I am going to be placing a call soon to see if I can't straighten things out. I don't plan on continuing until the main couple networks are working with my system.

[Matthew K.]

Now, the verification system has been tested and confirmed functioning for Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Sprint. Onward I go.

[JBlaze]

It's a great idea in theory, but actually getting it to work in even an average sized forum would be futile. I spent the better part of 8 months trying to get it to work with my stress tests, and had a message drop rate of just over 30%. When you're sending notifications, anything over 5% is unacceptable.

The best way to go about it would be to sign up for SMS gateway and pay a subscription fee or whatever they do now. That's the only way to guarantee better results than just the standard email-to-SMS method.

Good luck though. It would be awesome if this works!

[Matthew K.]

Thanks for stopping by, JBlaze! It's really unfortunate that email-to-text isn't more reliable.

In all of my tests, I have not had any issues, although I trust you that they exist on larger scales.

Have you found a good SMS Gateway yet? I'd love to add their API to this modification too.

[JBlaze]

Have you found a good SMS Gateway yet? I'd love to add their API to this modification too.

Never bothered with a gateway, although I had thought of setting one up on my own. Unfortunately, the lack of money and time prevented that.

[Matthew K.]

Okay, well I appreciate the input

[JBlaze]

Okay, well I appreciate the input

No problem. This was one mod that I had high hopes for. Unfortunately it just wasn't feasible to mass-produce it. You're definitely going to run into some problems on different hosts and server setups, especially if you want to go the API route with a Gateway service.

[Matthew K.]

Is there any real point in continuing then? I assume you've already done your research since you yourself also attempted this.

Should I not be wasting my time, and spend it writing something that will function properly?

[JBlaze]

Is there any real point in continuing then? I assume you've already done your research since you yourself also attempted this.

Should I not be wasting my time, and spend it writing something that will function properly?

It's totally up to you. There is a lot of work involved in this, and in the end it's up to you if you want to invest that much time into something you're not going to get paid for. If you're willing to put in the work, then by all means keep going with it. I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here.

[Matthew K.]

No, I appreciate that, and I most definitely would rather hear the sad truth than not know until it's completely done.

I think for now I am going to put a stop on the project, and if eventually I can think of a good reason to do it, or am comfortable spending the time with the strong possibility of it not functioning for a lot of people, I might pick it up once again.

Thanks again!

[JBlaze]

Have fun

[Matthew K.]

Thanks dude, you too!