Clickatell and Telecom NZ

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SandyNZ

34 posts

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#102021 14-May-2012 16:13

Hi there,

I have read quite a bit about this on the forums, most of which I can find appears to be quite dated now. We send SMS through our software via an API and are currently using Clickatell. Approx April last year the messages via Telecom NZ were not being received by the recipients and we found our they Telecom appear to be treating them as SPAM so we went through and updated ALL of our Sender ID's to be local ie instead of 6421nnnnnn we also had a local 021nnnnnn SenderID approved. This has been mostly successful until February this year when the wheels seemed to have fallen off again.

Long story short is that we believe we need to get a local NZ provider so we may offer our clients a more reliable service and get a plethora of conflicting information regarding if they can offer something more reliable. We would like to have 2 way messaging (ie. the message can be replied to and routed into email), can anyone here make any recommendations for a reasonably priced, reliable LOCAL NZ SMS service provider or am I barking up a really big tree?

Thanks in advance
Sandy

lxsw20

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#624978 14-May-2012 17:01

The Telecom service is eText, which we have found to be OK. Except when they had broadband issues last year it appeared to take down etext also.

openmedia

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#624982 14-May-2012 17:06

Another option is Bulletin.net who have local connections with all the Telecos including Telecom NZ.

Note I did work for them at one point but I no longer have a financial relationship.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

nate

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#625018 14-May-2012 18:17

SandyNZ: ... can anyone here make any recommendations for a reasonably priced, reliable LOCAL NZ SMS service provider ...

Seriously, no such thing here.

If you do explore some of the local options, make sure you're sitting down when the quote you the monthly costs, supports costs and then the costs per message.

SandyNZ

34 posts

Geek

#625227 15-May-2012 07:51

Riiight, I get the picture here. I know there are lots of businesses out there using SMS (physio's doctors etc) and figure they must be more stable than what we're getting currently. I spoke to Net24 last night and it's going to be an accounting nightmare unless each of our clients will need to run their own individual accounts which is a bit of a major step backwards.

I know we're downunder but surely.........

*deep sigh of frustration*

I will try bulletin and see what they have to offer. We also have Australian clients too so guess we might have to have separate providers their also.

Sandy

old3eyes

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#625241 15-May-2012 08:41

I gave up on Clickatell and Ipipi for the OP reasons. Telecom blocked them. Maybe it would be better to get a cheap Android fone and a good cheap SMS plan and tie it that to a PC and do SMS that way.

Regards,

Old3eyes

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#625246 15-May-2012 08:45

The way I see it, it was blocked to protect local interests.

People found out it was a lot cheaper to create new applications using international gateways than to use local, overpriced solutions. Obviously someone took offence at that and the whole thing was blocked.

They currently block incoming international SMS with a NZ number in the sender's field. How could this action block spam SMS is hard to understand - spammers could simply switch to using some international number and still reach people here.

SandyNZ

34 posts

Geek

#625253 15-May-2012 09:00

Yeah we keep switching Senderid's etc to try and keep up with them but they are pretty hard to keep ahead of so the service we get is pretty unreliable. We understand that we are going to pay a bit more for a more reliable service but seem to be having problems finding a provider that ticks a majority of boxes. We write and develop software and our clients want to be able to send reminders to their customers. We are using Clickatell which has been working great and ticks all boxes including being able to run a main account which all our billing is through and have clients running under this account - each with their own COM object so we can tell them apart for billing & reporting but their doesn't seem to be anything out there that can come close to what these guys offer.

Finding a local provider has fallen in to my too hard box a few times over the last couple of years but the Clickatell/Telecom relationship has deteriorated to a degree that is no longer tenable for us or our clients so I now HAVE to find a solution.

S

Equinox IT

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nate

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#625383 15-May-2012 11:27

SandyNZ: Riiight, I get the picture here. I know there are lots of businesses out there using SMS (physio's doctors etc) and figure they must be more stable than what we're getting currently. I spoke to Net24 last night and it's going to be an accounting nightmare unless each of our clients will need to run their own individual accounts which is a bit of a major step backwards.

Net24 resell Message Media. Try them directly.

Kyanar

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#625427 15-May-2012 13:04

Yes, Message Media is pretty good from my experience with Net24 - they do support your main account/sub account billing relationship you want, as that is how Net24 does their arrangement. The only catch is that anyone with access to delivery reports can see all messages sent by all accounts under the parent - with Net24 that means you can see literally every message sent by every Net24 customer. I wasn't particularly fond of that, one of the reasons I stopped using their service.

Also talk to Bulletin. They don't actually have monthly or support charges any more, you just pre-pay some credit to your account and get charged per message. Replies are delivered by email if you sent it by email or into an online message centre. As far as I am aware, they do support sub accounts as well.

old3eyes

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#625578 15-May-2012 17:01

Here is one NZ organization that i looked at but can't see any info on pricing
http://www.websms.co.nz/

Regards,

Old3eyes

icepicknz

309 posts

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#628759 22-May-2012 09:52

Websms is 7c a message (using international providers) which are best effort, but for an additional 3c (so 10c) +GST it will use local carriers rather than going international. We are working on a sub-account feature at the moment. If there is enough interest I can expedite this.

CHeers
Barry

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Vibe Communications LTD - Business ISP and Wholesale Carrier

Any comments made by myself don't reflect the views of my employer, they are mine and mine alone

wazzab

84 posts

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#630401 25-May-2012 15:44

We use to use ClickATell, but now use SMS Global - while strickly not NZ, the have support out of Australia, and support has been good. We use SMPP with them, and they use NZ providers (voda) to send there messages. We had a few early issues with messages disappearing when the recipient number was ported between NZ providers, but these have been sorted now.