They can and do detect this kind of thing. In a similar vein there is also a whole industry in "sim boxes". Effectively a box of SIM cards / radio equipment that acts as a server. These can similarly be set up as servers to send SMS through carriers ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_box ), though seemingly the popular use is to bridge VOIP calls to local destinations and sell "minutes" to others. There is also apparently a whole industry in software to manage them. These days that management software allegedly includes measures to have the SIMs behave like humans to evade detection (the sims text each other, browse around, sleep for hours of the day, and so on).
Well - use an dedicated telecom API provider that doesn't squeeze you on pricing uselessly: https://telnyx.com/pricing/messaging
Twilio is the DataDog / Microsoft of telecom APIs. The only reason you buy them is because it's the biggest name, or you have already integrated them so deeply that you're unwilling to rip it out. Their price structure also has a huge floor because they're not a carrier so they have to buy everything from real carriers.
Telnyx is actually a registered carrier so other carriers are forced by law to peer with them at lower prices.
There are other low-cost SMS API providers but AFAIK none are actual carriers and they maintain the cost by only doing messaging and relying on enormous volume to make up for tiny margins - their profitability and therefore longevity are tenuous IMO.
> There are other low-cost SMS API providers but AFAIK none are actual carriers and they maintain the cost by only doing messaging and relying on enormous volume to make up for tiny margins - their profitability and therefore longevity are tenuous IMO.
Depending on what you're doing, chances are you're better off ignoring everything an aggregator tells you. Measure delivery through actual user measures and cost keep active accounts with multiple providers and shift traffic where the cost/success is best for a given group of users (country/carrier/etc).
All the aggregators will tell you they have global coverage and that they use 100% direct routes, and they're all lieing.
But you will generally be much better off with an actual registered carrier because they have better access to direct agreements with regulated pricing.
I hope your disaster recovery (or 'didn't realize') strategy includes a drawer full of additional burner Android phones and SIM cards.
Would such a system be untenable these days? Is it possible to provision a physical SIM that cannot legally be shut off, but is whitelisted to only 10 consenting numbers at a time?
legitimate messages or not, this will look like spam if you get a surprise burst of traffic. and providers will nuke your SIM, maybe blacklist your phone's IMEI, if they suspect you're using it for spam.
also is it weird that "That's its whole life now." made feel a bit sorry for the phone? might be spending too much time in opencode...
Can/will do the trick for fractions of a penny... B)
Check their UseCases... * https://signalwire.com/products/cloud-messaging#message-use-...
Also, if you're a real PBX nerd, check Asterisk.org which pre-dates and may have sparked if/not powered early-Twilio.
''Textbelt is a no-nonsense SMS API built for developers who just want to send SMS. Thousands of customers prefer Textbelt over other SMS providers for our ease of setup, simple, predictable pricing packages, and personal support. ''
Nope. Sorry, it is unlimited texts for *personal* use --- as defined by the carrier.
Send "too many" and your account can be suspended.
Some carriers offer an email to SMS gateway so if you can send email, you can skip the $20 Android phone.
https://20somethingfinance.com/how-to-send-text-messages-sms...
Wish we could axe sms and rcs, too
EDIT: it’s a lie. At the bottom of the page : Dedicated device: Use a cheap Android phone ($100–200) with a prepaid SIM.
There's a good chance you will find an old android for about $20 that still works.
For instance: https://www.ebay.com/itm/336183863624
Took me less than 1 minute to find.
You can get one if you know some people
Heck, a brilliant potential bootstrapped-from-virtually-nothing-except-a-cell-phone business idea!
$20 and full android stack seems a massive waste for this, nevermind unreliable.
Definitely cheaper, and far more reliable than a complex device running a full android stack.
It replaced a very unreliable, problematic setup somebody else had set up in the past, which was based on an android phone.
Once I got the sim900-derived device from aliexpress, I moved the sim over and had it working in less than an hour. Polished the code and its setup during the first few days of use, and hadn't had to touch it since.
