I am in the process of trying out the broadcast SMS for my business, i know you the only device u support is the zoom modem, but can u please let me know which cell phones may also work?

Yes, you can use cell phone with BroadcastBySMS software. The requirement is that the phone supports the following SMS standard: GSM 07.05 Phase 2

To test your cell phone, connect your cell phone to your computer, usually through a USB cable. Please check with your cell phone user manual for more details. You may need to install your cell phone driver. Second, you may use Windows HyperTerminal to test your cell phone by using the following AT command: ‘AT+CSMS’. Please check with your cell phone manual or online AT command reference for more details.

Many of the Nokia GSM phones are known to work with SMS software.

I have sms, voicent broadcastbysms .. it works fine but I have to wait to finish the campaign to check if somebody sent me a text message back , here is my question, is there any way to forward automatically to my email address in the same instant when people send their text back to me through their phone , I want to receive all the text message back to my inbox email … how to configure this option. thank you very much

First, you can stop the campaign and check the return status. Then restart the campaign. This is just a simple work around but not ideal.

To forward your incoming SMS messages to your email, you have to design your message using Voicent IVR Studio. All you need to do is to use the tool to design your SMS message, create an element to receive SMS response, and then add another element to process the response with an email action. For more details, please download and install Voicent IVR studio and give it a try. The best place to start is the product walkthrough under the program Help menu.

I there a way to track the messages sent just to know they were delivered, without having them respond or respond only if they wish to? Can a header be placed on each message? is there a way to place an opt-out message on the end of the message?

It is usually not necessary to track whether a text message is received or not. Unlike emails, where there are SPAM filters, text messages are almost always delivered.

For text message, there is no such a thing as a header. All you have is 160 characters of text.

Yes, you can place an opt-out message at the end of your text message. This is one major reason you want to use Voicent BroadcastBySMS software, where text responses can be handled automatically.

Text messaging is not an interactive service. You send a text to a cell phone, that’s it. You can ask the recipient to respond with certain responses like 11 for opt-out, 22 for join, etc. But the response text is just like a regular text message. Without a software that can handle the response automatically, you have to manually process your incoming text message to see who wants to opt-out.

How many caracters is one allowed to send in one text? Does the system have the capability to send a second text to the same recepient if the mwessage is too long as can be done with a regular cell phone?

For English, or other language that requires a single byte for the alphabet, the limit is 160 characters. For double byte alphabet, it is shorter.

This is the original limitation for GSM SMS/text message services. Some services may allow longer text, or even include multimedia messages, but that’s a different service (MMS). To make sure your message can be displayed for all the phones, we recommend you limit your text message to 160 characters.

Voicent software will not try to break up a long message.

Accordint to what I’ve read it is not necesary when importing a list to also include the domaim name for the carrier, is this correct?

Yes, it is correct. You don’t have to include the domain name.

There are some text messaging software out their that utilize a carrier’s email-to-text gateway service. The gateway is identified by a carrier’s domain name. So if you email 12345678900@some-carrier.com, the email will be forwarded by the service and sent to the phone as a text message. Actually, before we have Voicent BroadcastBySMS software, some of our customers use Voicent BroadcastByEmail, as a work around, to send text messages.

There are two major drawbacks of using the email-to-text gateway service:

1). You need to know which carrier a cell phone number belongs to. (that’s why you need to specify the domain name) This information may not be available.
2). Email to text forwarding is not that reliable and may have a long delay.

Voicent BroadcastBySMS software does not use email-to-text gateway. It sends text message by the SMS modem directly to a carrier’s cellular network.

I have concerns about using my own my cell phone service to send thousands of text messages, even thaw I have unlimited texting wont the carrier complaint about the amount of test messages sent? Is it posible to get a separate sim card to use only with thye modem, instead of using the one on my cell phone?

Yes, if you over used the carrier will complain. However, we do not know the exact limit that will trigger this. You may need to read your service fine print or just talk to their customer service.

Yes, you can use a separate SIM card with the modem. When you purchase a data/text plan, separate from your regular plan, the carrier will give you a new SIM card. The SIM card simply identified who is making a call or sending a text message.

Command Line Interface

You can invoke BroadcastBySMS from a command window as follows:
scast.exe <call list file>
[-startnow]
[-startfromrow
<row number>]
[-maxlines <use
lines>]
[-text <double quoted
message>]
[-import <csv file>]
[-export <csv file>]
[-numbers <call
list>]
[-statusurl <url>]
[-statusexe <prog>]
[-caller <caller
identifier>]
[-cleanstatus]
[-noexit]

Where:

-startnow: starts a broadcast
immediately
-text : specify the text message to sent
-startfromrow:
broadcast start from row, default is 0, used with -startnow
-maxlines: use
maximum number of lines for the broadcast
-numbers: import a list of phone
numbers
-statusurl: post to this url after a message is sent.
Details see below
-statusexe: launch a program or script after a message is
sent
-caller: caller identifier, used with statusurl.
-import: import
a CSV file
-export: export to a CSV file
-cleanstatus: confirmation
and status columns are cleans before broadcast
-noexit: keep program up
after broadcast

If you specify -numbers or -import, the <call list file> can
be an existing file or a new file. If the file does not exist, it will be
created, new numbers added or imported, and saved.

Some options are to be used in separate command. For example,
export option is usually executed by itself.

Use statusurl

This option is mostly used for program integration. If
statusurl is defined, the program will post to this url whenever a call
is finished (all responses received or timeout). The parameters include all the
values of the row. Each parameter uses the column header as the parameter name,
and the cell value as the parameter value. The following call information are
also included as parameters:

index: row index in the
spreadsheet
caller: defined in the
command line
calltime: time of the call
defined as seconds from Jan 1, 1970
callduration: total seconds of the call

For example, if the following call is finished:

The following parameters will be posted to the specified URL:

index=50&caller=agent1&calltime=126690280&callduration=120&Name=John+Doo&Phone=8001234567&Age=30&Notes=confirmed&Status=Call+Made

Use statusexe

This option is mostly used for program integration. If
statusexe is defined, the program will launch the program whenever a call
is finished. The parameters are the same as those used in the option for
starturl as defined above.

The program or script will be launched as follows:

<prog> -Dindex=50 -Dcaller=agent1
-Dcalltime=126690280 -Dcallduration=120 -DName=”John Doo”
-DPhone=8001234567 -DAge=30 -DNotes=”confirmed”
-DStatus=”Call Made”
Example
scast.exe
“C:\mygroup\list.soc” -startnow -text “hellow world”
Invoke
BroadcastBySMS with call list “C:\mygroup\list.soc” and start broadcasting to
send text message “hello world”

scast.exe “C:\mygroup\list.soc” -startnow -text “hello” -numbers “1234567
2223333″

First import the two phone numbers to the call list. If the SOC file exists,
the two new numbers are appended. If the SOC file does not exist, a new file
will be created and the two new numbers added. Once the numbers are imported, it
will first save the SOC file automatically. It then starts the broadcast with
the specified text message.

Broadcast Using Customized Message

The command line interface does not provide an option for specifying Message
ID that is created by Message Designer. However, you can still use customized
message by first creating a call list file (.soc), selecting the message ID, and
saving it to a .soc file. Then use the .soc file in the command line.

You can customize or personalize your text message for each phone number on your send list.

In this example, we’ll customize the following message:
“Hi [Name], your account is overdue and your current balance is [balance]. Please submit your payment by end of this week. Thank you.”
The [Name] and [balance] is specific to each phone number (one row on the spreadsheet), and the text before and after [name] and [balance] are fixed.
Invoke the Message Designer by selecting Designer > Message Designer… from the program main menu.

Then from the Message List dialog window, click the New Button.
From the Message Designer Window, enter the Message ID for your message.

Next click on the New button inside the Message Items box. From the New Message Item dialog window, select the text radio button, then enter “Hi” in the box below:

Click the OK button to add the message item.
Click the New button to invoke the New Message Item dialog window. Select Contact Name radio button.

Click the OK button to add the message item.
Next click on the New button inside the Message Items box. From the New Message Item dialog window, select the text radio button, then enter “, your account is overdue and your current balance is” in the box below:

Click the OK button to add the message item.
Click the New button to invoke the New Message Item dialog window. Please select Specific to each call radio button, enter Balance as the column header.

Click the OK button to add the message item.
Repeat the previous step to add another text item for “. Please submit your payment by end of this week. Thank you.”. After that, your message items box should look like the following:

The actual text message sent will be composed by these message items sequentially, producing the desired message as shown in the beginning of the section.
Click the OK button to close the designer window.
IMPORTANT: In order to use the designed message, you must select it for your send list.
Select Broadcast > Select Message… from the program main menu.

From the Select Message dialog window, select the newly designed message

Click the OK button to continue.
Once the message is selected, a new column named Balance should be added the spreadsheet window.

Enter balances and then save the send list.
Click the SMS button to start broadcast. You should see the Broadcast Call Control window as follows. Please note that instead of a text box for you to enter the message, the Broadcast Message is listed as : “Message ID: My Test Message”.

Congratulations! You have successfully finished this topic.

Try this easy process now, by clicking here to download the text messaging software.

With Voicent BroadcastBySMS, it is easy to broadcast your text message to a large group of people.

First create a call list by simply type in the phone numbers in the spreadsheet window. Click on the first row of the Phone column and start entering your phone numbers.

To save the call list, click on the Save File icon on the toolbar, or select File > Save from the program main menu.

Use any name for the file, for example, you could enter “test.soc”. Then click the Save button

To begin broadcast, select Broadcast > Start/Schedule… from the program main menu, or click the SMS button on the toolbar.

Select Start Now radio button to start the broadcast right away. (To schedule broadcast for a later time, select the Schedule radio button instead)

Enter the text message to be sent in the broadcast message text box.

Click the OK button to start broadcast. Your broadcast should start immediately. That’s it. It’s easy, isn’t it.

After the message is sent to a phone, the status column should be filled automatically. BroadcastBySMS should move on to sent text message to the next phone number on the list.

You can set broadcast options by selecting Broadcast > Broadcast Options… from the program main menu.

Response timeout: This option is useful for applications that expect responses. The setting simply tells the system how long it should wait for responses.

And that is it! You can now successfully and easily broadcast your text messages.