SMS Software

[JohnnyO152]

Do any of your Depts. use text messaging (cellphone) programs for communications? We are going to get rid of our pagers and going to use text/SMS. Do any of you have suggestions for SMS software. Any help would be appreciated.

[nmfire]

Another example of people who don't know what they're talking about making policy changes. SMS messaging should never be used for alerting. This is the worst idea EVER. People will probably die eventually.

My suggestion is if your department wants to use a kids toy as a primary emergency alerting method, you should find a new department.

[JohnnyO152]

Sorry, it is not for alerting. It is for info. like classes and overtime available. Sorry again for the confusion.

[nmfire]

Thank god. You wouldn't believe the "good ideas" some people come up with because they're cool and new.

For that kind of messaging, there are a number of solutions. There are a number of programs that will do it. I suggest Notepage.

[JohnnyO152]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[adamifrd]

Also note for basic text message broadcasts you don't even need software. A lot of people don't know that you can simply create an email list with everyone's cell phone number and send everyone (or just select people) a txt msg from your email. This example is for a Verizon phone:

1235555555@vtext.com


You will need to know each person's cell provider to use the correct "domain". Then simply send an email to all your addresses using your standard email. It's simple and free.

[JohnnyO152]

Thank you.

[firebuff880]

How you proceed depends on what your objective is. But be carefull. Most of the Carriers today are using Filters and Throttles to reduce spam traffic on there networks. So a message sent to your staff through a public e-mail gateway can be delayed significantly. A duplicate message, to numerous members from a common source will be subject to this (Ex: a mail distribution group).

If you are doing staff notifications, or team recalls, or even secondary incident pages, anything of a time sensative nature you should look at something like our DAPage(tm) or maybe the I am Responding package.

http://www.dapage.net
http://iamresponding.com/

[RyanEMVFD]

Does anyone know of any free SMS/Text message programs out there to use? I know they exist, I just don't know the name of any decent ones.

[jbrescue]

I have used Outlook successfully for a long time. It is easy to set up and works.

[RyanEMVFD]

Never used Outlook but I'll take a look at it. Thanks.

[allison0523]

We use outlook too and it's easy to use. You can send out a text to a preset distribution list just like sending an email. We are also looking at another program for mass text messaging in the case of a true emergency but I am not sure what program they are looking at for that. We have 500 people on our department with different cell phone providers so I am not sure if that is an issue or not. With outlook we use nextel blackberries on our city server.

[firebuff880]

Does anyone know of any free SMS/Text message programs out there to use? I know they exist, I just don't know the name of any decent ones.

Ryan,

My comments from Aug 2010 are truer now more than ever. You might be able to get away with outlook or any number of other email based notification products for day to day ops to a couple of users. But the throttling and pacing that is in place to protect the carriers will prevent large groups from getting a common message in a timely basis. (when it's really needed).

The various products available are all cost effective and utilize enterprise level connections to the carriers. Most of us can also do demos.

JMS..
http://www.dapage.net/emergencyservices.html

[RyanEMVFD]

None of what I need is for emergency calls or anything. It's intended use is to just get messages out for special events, meetings or training. Thanks for the heads up.

[xchief23]

I have been using Text Message Plus. It's freeware but only supports four cell carriers. So far it's working well.

[smsrecv]

There is sms software called SMS Enabler. It can be used to receiving text messages and for sms autoreply. It utilizes a 3G(GSM) modem connected to your computer via USB or Bluetooth. This software can automatically save incoming texts to files and database, forward them to email and webserver.
http://smsenabler.com/

[DeputyMarshal]

Does someone in your jurisdiction have reverse 911 capabilities, perhaps using a service like Everbridge? This is something your local, county, or state PD or Emergency Management might already have in place that you could potentially make use of for official communications.

[sreu1989]

my company uses a multi-platform app called GroupMe...its kinda like blackberry messenger but it can be used by blackberry,iphone, and android phone users,it even has the capability for the olders phones to communicate by text message. we send out mass messages and advise when we are responding to the building or just hanging out at the building so everyone would know a driver is at the building

[EastKyFF]

This thread is a year old, but it's worth mentioning one that our church uses. OneCallNow.com lets you enter multiple phone numbers per recipient and they get a VOICE message. That way even if you have podunk personnel who don't use text messaging, you can still communicate with them. The calls are made from your facility so that it will show up right on caller ID. It can do a phenomenal number of calls in a very short time, and it keeps calling until they answer.