Ask HN: Would it be worth it to code an SMS system to send them on your own? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Would it be worth it to code an SMS system to send them on your own?

1 pointlecarore3 comments

I have a web app that needs to send and receive SMS.

In France, you can send unlimited SMS with a private free mobile plan for 2€/months. That's 2€ for sending 1000sms a month.

Twilio asks for 3€/months + ~10ct per sms. Thats 103€ for sending 1000sms a month. Twilio prices are just ridiculous.

So I have hacked together a system combining 2 old android phones, an sms gateway app and no-ip to do the SMS thing on my own. But it's very brittle.

I feel like I should make a proper open source system:

-A nodejs part to install on the server, as a npm package, that you can require and use to send smss

- An android client (in java, lightweight and compatible with super old versions of android). It would continuously poll the server and send whatever sms it needs to send. It would notify the server of incoming SMS.

My question is : is it worth it ? How did you solve that problem ? Is sending an SMS as a person also cheap in other countries ?

I'd strongly recommend you to go with some third party providers, because

- International coverage

- Delivery dashboard

- Easy to scale = 1 less headache

- They know the regulations (DND stuff)

I will go for the 3rd party solution just for sake of 1 less headache for me.

I would also recommend it as soon as the project scales up.

But you have to admin the price difference is massive for the french market. Maybe not that much in the US ?

I make an app that costs 15€ / months. It sends sms reminders and notifications to the user's clients. With twilio pricing, if their are more than 100 notifications/reminders a month I'm loosing money.

- The dashboard would be part of the server package

- In europe, any plan can now send sms to any European country for the same price

- The system would allow for multiple android phones to be connected for better redundancy and scale

- Most carriers say you should not use their personal plans for automated communication. But if you keep the number of sms low and use it for notifications only, you'll go under the radar and I think it's fair.

Just realized sms are 0.0075 cents for US carriers. They are 10x more expensive for french carriers.

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