How do I get started? Is this still a working solution?

[globemediaofficial]

I see that much of the code has not been touched in 3-4 years. Is this because it's abandoned or because there hasn't been any need for change? This sounds amazing if it works but I don't see any guide on getting started with self-hosting. Is there a way to use docker or something similar? Did I miss a guide somewhere? I saw a couple of similar discussions but they are closed and unanswered.

[daluu]

Should still work in general I believe, unless certain carriers have blocked access to the email gateways.

But finding a working guide to deploy or even a ready to deploy solution, is a different matter. There are several issues filed regarding a guide/walkthrough with no progress as far as I'm aware.

For almost ready to deploy, we have this, but is isn't functional yet: https://github.com/typpo/textbelt/issues/88.

[globemediaofficial]

Take a look at this GitHub repository. I think it works, will try to test it soon.

[ryanckulp]

hey @globemediaofficial i think i have an easier solution to self-deploy, free: https://github.com/typpo/textbelt/issues/176

[globemediaofficial]

@ryanckulp Thanks, this solution worked for me! I do have an issue though. When I try to send a text, I get the {"success": true}, but it assumes the carrier is ATT when it's actually Verizon. When I go to my sent mail, obviously there is an error showing that the email could not be sent to <my-number>@txt.att.net since ATT is not my carrier. How can I fix this? I remember there being a carrier parameter in the CURL example but I can't find that now. Even if I get it to work with that, I don't want users to have to select their carrier.

[ryanckulp]

@globemediaofficial i'm not exactly sure how everything works, but it seems like Textbelt attempts to text each provided number at all the supported carriers for that country/region. you should see in your Sent folder several attempted texts to ATT, Verizon, etc.

this is also what makes the free version limited; Gmail disables mass sending for spam prevention, so even trying to fire off 5-10 texts in a few seconds could breach that throttled limit.

i'm considering building a simple Ruby gem that does the following:

• attempts to send a text message free (gem installer will provide email credentials)
• if response "success" is "failed," gem sends a text message via API credentials (gem install to provide a key)

Textbelt Pro is already quite reasonable, better pricing than Twilio anyway. so i'm thinking this type of solution could essentially knock the price down another 20-50%.

would you use something like this?

[globemediaofficial]

would you use something like this?

@ryanckulp Right now my use case isn't worth paying for since I'm still in the development stage for my app. However, I would consider using a solution like this once more users join because the texts would need to be more reliable. I finally got the messages that I tried to send but it happened at 6 AM (8 hours after I sent them). I know that's a carrier issue since they decide when the gateway will send the text.