EnvayaSMS / Telerivet announcement

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Jesse Young

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Mar 2, 2013, 2:57:31 AM3/2/13
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I'm the original developer of EnvayaSMS, but for the past year I have been working on Telerivet (http://telerivet.com).

I haven't updated the open-source EnvayaSMS project since early 2012, but I'm still actively improving Telerivet, which is now far more powerful and reliable  than EnvayaSMS. 

Here are some of the improvements in Telerivet that are not available in EnvayaSMS:
  • Much easier high-level API for developers to integrate with (e.g. you don't have to queue outgoing messages yourself, or handle all the low-level status notifications)
  • Has a web UI that can be used by non-developers (or by developers who don't want to program their own web UI or run their own servers)
  • Fixes numerous bugs in EnvayaSMS that can lead to crashes or application not responding errors
  • Automatically sends email notifications when your phone is in a non-optimal state
  • Avoids dropping message status notifications if the phone loses internet connectivity
  • Optional support for delivery notifications
  • Makes it easy for you to access your phone's log data and change app settings remotely 
  • Optional quiet hours to avoid accidentally sending messages at night
  • Can invoke USSD commands (dialing codes ending in #), for example to check your phone's airtime balance, top-up, or transfer credit
  • Can lock the app remotely to prevent someone with physical access to the phone from changing settings
  • More user-friendly user interface
  • Can optionally save outgoing messages in the Android phone's messaging inbox
  • Fixed bug where SMS expansion packs didn't work in Android 4.0+
  • Fixed bug where SMS rate limit was incorrect in Android 4.1+
  • Internationalized (currently have English and Swahili, more languages coming soon)
  • Better support for slow network connections
  • Automatically tells you when there's a new version of the Android app
  • Distinguishes between messages that have permanently failed to send and messages that have failed but the app is still retrying
  • User support
Of course, some people still prefer EnvayaSMS despite its many shortcomings, because Telerivet costs $2.25/week, is closed-source, and routes messages through Telerivet.com's servers, while EnvayaSMS is free, open-source (except for the SMS expansion packs), and doesn't route messages through Telerivet.com's servers.

The short reason why I stopped updating EnvayaSMS: we have never received any financial support to develop it. My work at Envaya was full-time and mostly unpaid. In order to make it sustainable for me to continue working on this technology, we had to develop a viable business model, which became Telerivet, Inc.

We're open to the idea of potentially open-sourcing much of our Android gateway tech (probably branded as something like OpenTelerivet instead of EnvayaSMS), hence allowing developers to use Telerivet's Android SMS gateway tech without routing messages through Telerivet.com's servers, and also without paying Telerivet $10/month. But we'd need significant financial support to do that. We're fans of open-source and of maximizing the social impact of our technology, but we're not a charity, and we'd like Telerivet to be sustainable so we can continue improving our tech in the long term. 

Finally, some posters on this forum appear to have the expectation that the EnvayaSMS developers (= me) will provide them with free technical support as they try to integrate EnvayaSMS. While occasionally I may answer some questions, I generally don't provide free technical support for EnvayaSMS. Typically, if you are having difficulties integrating EnvayaSMS, you really should be using Telerivet instead, either via its simpler API or via its web-based tools. If you use Telerivet and pay $2.25/week for Telerivet's least expensive service plan, then we'll be happy to provide technical support. If you are an EnvayaSMS user and don't want to use Telerivet for one reason or another, but still want more technical support than you can find in this community forum, we'll welcome you to pay for Telerivet's Gold level service plan, and then we'd be happy to provide additional support for your EnvayaSMS project.

Thanks!
Jesse

贝亮田

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Oct 15, 2013, 12:58:29 AM10/15/13
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You have done A LOT! We are grateful to have EnvayaSMS to start with.

Telerivet is fantastic service for general public that just want something similar without the hassle, and we certainly think that is a good strategy to go with.

Thank you again for all the contributions on EnvayaSMS!

-- 

Olurotimi Adeboye

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Jan 13, 2014, 4:22:33 PM1/13/14
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HI JESSE,

KUDOS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENVAYA. IT IS CERTAINLY A UTILITY, AS APLTY DESCRIBED, FOR DEVELOPING NATIONS WITH POOR DATA ACCESS OR UNRELIABLE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE. 

I'VE BEEN STRUGGLING WITH A START-UP ORGANISATION FOCUSED ON BUILDING ANALYTICS FOR OUR MARKET BUT MUCH OF OUR EFFORT HAS BEEN FRUSTRATED BY EXPENSIVE TELECOM TARIFF AS WELL AS MOBILE OPERATORS WHO DONT ENCOURAGE VALUE ADDING START-UPS.

THE ENVAYA HAS SAVED US INTERNATIONAL SMS CHARGES SENDING DATA TO OUR SERVERS LOCATED OFFSHORE THOUGH WE'VE HAD TO MANUALLY FORWARD MESSAGES FROM THE ANDROID HANDSETS TO OUR SERVERS.

CONSEQUENTLY, WE ARE WILLING TO SUPPORT FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF ENVAYA FROM OUR MEAGRE BOOTSTRAP BUDGET TO ENSURE THAT OUR DREAMS ARE REALISED (AS WELL AS THOSE OF MANY CIVIL ORGANISATIONS AND NGOS DEPENDING ON THIS INVALUABLE TOOL) - FROM DATA MINING/ ANALYTICS OF THE EATING HABITS TO ELECTION MONITORING IN OUR MARKETS.

KINDLY CONTACT ME BY EMAIL TO DISCUSS HOW WE CAN BETTER DO THIS AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

BEST REGARDS,
--

OLUROTIMI ADEBOYE

jun yambao

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Mar 22, 2014, 7:27:13 AM3/22/14
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I want to explore this one aside from Telerivet.

Noong Sabado, Marso 02 2013 15:57:31 UTC+8, si Jesse Young ay sumulat:

Roel Zylstra

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May 31, 2014, 4:28:03 PM5/31/14
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If I were you I would probably be taking the route you are taking, and I presume you've thought a lot about different business models, but there is the option of following a Redhat-type model whereby you run a service (for all those that can pay, i.e. large businesses) and still provide open source, updated software for the freebie seekers.
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