SMS connectivity

[elwebmaster]

I know it has been discussed before, but it would be really nice if freephoneline would strike a deal with the wireless carriers to enable sending/receiving of text messages. As we transition towards WiMax/LTE data networks and the price of mobile data goes down, more and more users will be looking into mobile VoIP. So far I am not aware of any VoIP carrier which supports incoming SMS on Canadian numbers. You guys could be the first to do it
Other people have done it elsewhere, it shouldn't be too hard to reach an agreement. GoogleVoice does that in US, localphone does it in UK, iNum is trying to do it worldwide.

[FONGO_steve]

I know it has been discussed before, but it would be really nice if freephoneline would strike a deal with the wireless carriers to enable sending/receiving of text messages. As we transition towards WiMax/LTE data networks and the price of mobile data goes down, more and more users will be looking into mobile VoIP. So far I am not aware of any VoIP carrier which supports incoming SMS on Canadian numbers. You guys could be the first to do it
Other people have done it elsewhere, it shouldn't be too hard to reach an agreement. GoogleVoice does that in US, localphone does it in UK, iNum is trying to do it worldwide.

I will certainly pass this along!

[nauru]

Has there been any progress on this?

Would love to be able to at least receive text messages and have them forwarded to my email inbox or something (my cordless homephone of course can't display the text itself, but an email would be just as good IMO).

[FONGO_steve]

This is still on the list of long term items to consider - we won't see any overnight progress. When things change, we will be sure to inform everyone.

[nster]

Could you perhaps translate SMS to fax so that we can at least see the SMS?

With my current mobile phone, I can send SMS to a fax # and they would receive it. If I understand correctly, freephoneline #s can receive faxes, so to identify as a fax for receiving SMS would be awesome

[FONGO_kris]

SMS to landline has been around for some time and is mainly dependent on the sending end (ie. from my Bell Mobility cell phone I can send an SMS to my FPL and it'll leave a voice message if it's not able to reach a live person). Therefore, it's Bell Mobility doing that SMS to landline translation. I assume it works the same way for fax.

[nster]

I know this is not easy, but I'd like to give this suggestion another go, especially considering the name change to FonGo etc

Perhaps partner up with a company like Clickatell.com ? Outgoing texts allow spoofing (so you can easily make it spoof it to be the FPL #) and incoming texts can be easily seen through clickatell's website. There is a 1$ Android app that lets you use Clickatell with Android which is nice. Considering all this, it should be technically doable to partner up to make it work!

Anveo also has SMS support... Outgoing is a bit limited though

Please give something like this a serious chance!

[thunderzhao]

Admin, could you let us know how much it costs to get sms working? we 'll donate and make it work

[FONGO_kris]

I can certainly say I appreciate your enthusiasm, however I have a feeling thoughts on this front have been pushed back simply due to the name change and all that comes with it. I'll have to still with Steve here and say once we have any more updates (good or bad) we'll keep you informed.

The thread certainly has no fallen off our radar, and the prospects of being able to do this is still exciting.

[rockxlee]

There is an app for android and IOS called "TextPlus". It is like Dellvoice, you are given a free phone number, but instead of being able to make phone calls, you can send SMS. How did they manage to pull that off?

[FONGO_kris]

I will also point out that Steve has confirmed that production on some sort of SMS functionality for our Dell Voice product (cannot give details at this time) is in the works.

Link to post: http://forum.fongo.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3926

I'm going to lock this post and redirect to the link above, hope everyone is okay with that.