Newbie to sms services

[michalis1984]

Hi guys! I will start to use the sms functionality of Elxis. Wow, this brings elxis to next level This ability makes elxis more dynamic and it opens more doors to different kind of projects.

The main use i will do for now its to send reminders for appointments to customers phone number the day of the appointment.

I want to ask you, because i am not much experienced with those sms services. Because there are 5 of them, and its good that Elxis gives us options. Is any of them more better to choose instead of others or its just matter of pricing? I'm not interested on bulk sms sending for marketing purposes, just the ability that i can have through Elxis, although some basics stats on the service provider panel are welcome too.

[datahell]

I use Clickatel for may years because it provides global coverage. I have also used Easy SMS (Greek company) and tested all others. They all work fine.

You only need to worry about these:

1. Coverage. Make sure the provider you picked can send SMSs to the countries you want.
2. Pricing.

Restrictions that may apply to your country (including Greece):
You cannot provide the SMS sender. Some years ago, but still in many countries, you could provide the SMS sender to any thing you want. For instance you could set the sender to a text like "Elxis". Now you cannot do that in Greece.

Usage instructions:

$sms = $elxis->obj('sms');
$sms->setElxisConfigOptions();
$ok = $sms->sendMessage('306999100000', 'Hello world!');
if ($ok) {
   echo 'SUCCESS!';
} else {
    echo 'ERROR: '.$sms->getError();
}

It couldn't be easier than that...

And a tip:
You can easily become a Web-To-SMS provider by yourself. Meaning send the SMSs without the need to rely on a third party provider. You will need a mobile modem/router (even an old cellular modem can do the work), a SIM card, a PC or a micro-controller with web access, and some coding. You can even use an Arduino or a Raspberry Pi, there are ready to use mobile hats for them. How it works? You get a request from the internet, validate it and send the text you received as SMS via the attached modem. You can even make it 2-way, receive an SMS and forward it as data or email or anything to anyone or any service you want.

[michalis1984]

Very good. Thank you for your time to reply in detail.

Elxis is not just a CMS, its an amazing framework, with it you can build anything. With IOT amazing things can be created.

I tried instasent because it was the most straight forward on pricing without too much things to read. It was the last on the list, but i think i will be fine 

I try to send sms in my phone in Cyprus and the sender is "Elxis". How can i change that? I know as you said sender cannot be changed for all countries but since most of the receivers will have Cyprus number then I want to change it.

Also in case the sender name cannot be changed (like in Greece) then what the receiver sees as sender?
 

[datahell]

Also in case the sender name cannot be changed (like in Greece) then what the receiver sees as sender?

Test it to see by yourself. Usually a strange number.

I will tell you a story to understand why setting the sender is not allowed anymore. At the past you could add anything as a sender. You could set a text, like "Elxis" but also an other mobile number...

Consider this:
Your mobile phone: 111111
Your wife's mobile phone: 222222

I from Elxis send an SMS to your wife "222222" and set sender to "111111". I write as text "I want a divorce".
Your wife receives the message from you... and reads that you want a divorce...
Try to persuade her that you were not the one that sent the message. She will say "It was from your phone", buy YOU never send that message, I did. Got the problem?
PS. I have done the above trick a few times in my past as a joke to my friends (nothing serious, I am a good guy).

Same thing can happen with emails if there is no protection to prevent reaching their destination. Actually you can spoof many things in internet, some of them relatively easy.

In some cases you can use text as sender if you make a deal. Big companies do so. For instance when you receive an SMS from "Microsoft", from a bank, etc. You can contact your provider (instasent) and ask him.

[michalis1984]

Yes indeed by allowing anyone to use anything as a sender can lead to serious problems and scams. I have experience.

Yesterday I received an sms from a sender with text "Binance" saying that I should change my password and I should contact them in a specific phone number 😅 ofcourse it was a scam attempt. 1hr later I received another one sms that my binance account have been accessed from an ip in Norway and if it's not me I should call them at the same phone number 😅 I just logged on my binance account by typing the url and I saw nobody had logged. A newbie user could be fall in this trap.

So the sms providers should be strict with what allowing as sender. In my case the sender of the sms's is a legimate registered business so the sender will be just the business name.