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SMS gateway, Web Push, get phone number via web ?

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  • 28-01-2021 4:44pm
    #1
    MrCostington
    Registered Users Posts: 1,246 ✭✭✭


    Hi,

    I have a 3 part question, all connected. I want to build web based system that people, not previously known to us, will sign up to. I would like to send them an SMS or push notification (more on that later) every now and then. This is not a bulk marketing thing, but notification of an event specific to them (think getting an alert to your phone when you get a PM here).


    The SMS route.

    What gateway providers could I use that provide an API, have at least delivery confirmation, and are reasonable cost. Does not need to be a Irish company but must support Irish networks.

    Went to look at AWS and shocked to see USD 9.5 cent a text. http://www.interactsms.com/pricing.html better at €0.05 - any better out there for say 5,000 texts per month?


    Getting the phone number

    Is there any way to automate this (with permission of course)? There is some very old discussions on Stackoverflow, with people trying to do it without permission it seems, but nothing like how one, say, gets the location and the browser asks do you want to share your location with xzy site.

    Note, this will be a website, not an app.


    Web push

    The ideal solution would be to have Push Notifications. But I'm doing a web site, not an app.

    I did find this https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Push_API but it's experimental and no iOS support. Any other suggestions. Would PWA be a route?

    Thanks!


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    Atomic Pineapple
    Registered Users Posts: 18,272 ✭✭✭✭Atomic Pineapple


    Twilio is an option - https://www.twilio.com/sms/pricing/ie

    You will need to incentivise people to visit your website and provide their number.

    Make sure to read up on PII data and GDPR requirements since a phone number may be used to identify someone.


  • Options
    #3
    MrCostington
    Registered Users Posts: 1,246 ✭✭✭MrCostington


    Thanks for that. Still 7 cent a text, somebody is making a killing on this!

    I understand all the opt-in and privacy issues.

    I see WhatsApp have a commercial API (via third parties), I wonder if I could query that to see if a number uses WhatsApp and send SMS as a fallback? Any experience of this here?


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