SMS

Hi,

ok ive been in touch with the UCD folks, their system basically makes use of the free SMS feature in ICQ.

The front end web page, picks an ICQ ID from a list, then generates the request as an ICQ client would and the message gets delivered. It seems to work within minutes.

The current code is in perl though he's migrating it to php.

This would have to work as follows, users would sign up online to be added to an address book. then when a message is sent it gets sent to all those registered.

However in order to send the message you need to be online. So there would need to be a team of dedicated aurora watchers who would then either log in and send the alert or txt other people who are more likely to be near a computer to send the alert.

I dont have much spare time at the moment, and will have less and less in the coming months, but I'll have a look through the new code they have and see if we can implememnt it here.

Thoughts?

Cheers,
~Al

Another alternative (which is not free but pretty cheap all the same) is to bulk buy sms credits from www.clickatell.com/ and then simply have a script on the server here that a bunch of trusted people have access to to send the alerts.

Would people be prepared to pay a small fee to get SMS alerts?

Bart B.,
IFAS Webmaster.

Another alternative (which is not free but pretty cheap all the same) is to bulk buy sms credits from www.clickatell.com/ and then simply have a script on the server here that a bunch of trusted people have access to to send the alerts.

Would people be prepared to pay a small fee to get SMS alerts?

depends on the fee.. I prefer the free route

Does someone still have to log in to send the sms? It would be nice if there was a number that someone could send an sms to and well get notified without having the hassle of say kieth calling me, then me logging in to send the sms. Thats probably expensive though.

cheers,
~Al

Another alternative (which is not free but pretty cheap all the same) is to bulk buy sms credits from www.clickatell.com/ and then simply have a script on the server here that a bunch of trusted people have access to to send the alerts.

Would people be prepared to pay a small fee to get SMS alerts?

depends on the fee.. I prefer the free route

Does someone still have to log in to send the sms? It would be nice if there was a number that someone could send an sms to and well get notified without having the hassle of say kieth calling me, then me logging in to send the sms. Thats probably expensive though.

cheers,
~Al

Well with my proposed solution some onewould have to log in to the irishastronomy.org site and then fill in a form to send the SMSs.

I don't think it is possible to set up a system for mass SMSing people that does not involve you being on line! If it were possible it would be difficult and probably costly!

The tarifs at clickatell are pretty cheap at €0.044 per message.

Bart B

www.dcs.lancs.ac.uk/iono/aurorawatch/cgi-bin/subscribe

havent tried it yet but it looks interesting. its an email alert in the UK, but if you sign up from your mobile email address and get the mails forwarded then...


Cheers,
~Al

Just returning to an old topic that never went anywhere, but as I am after getting broadband and as with O2 and vodafone are offering up to 250 texts per month i though it would be use ful if we could again swap some mob numbers.

Would be great if Martin and Conor got on board as they seem to have clear skies all the time??.Especially if there is an unexpected aurora, noctilucent clouds, oh I know some people aint to keen on Noctilucent Clouds (sticky subject for some) heard it all at cosmos, but there are a few,including myself, any more takers?

As everybody has a mobile and are entitled to their free texts why not use them for a good cause.
:lol:


Ronan Newman
Vice Chairman
Galway Astronomy Club