SMS Messaging - (Another 3 letter search!)

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Mr. M-p40
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SMS Messaging - (Another 3 letter search!)

#1

Post by Mr. M-p40 »

Has there been any discussion about setting up SMS messaging for the Unit sites through the Unit Admins. I think that allowing users to enter their SMS phone number and opt in to recieve message via that method could be tremendous....talk about a jump start to emergency preparedness contacting.

Tying that in, I think that it would be great to allow the Unit/Stake site administrators the ability to send an alert via sms to send out to all users without even having to log into the site by test messaging <UnitId>.ldschurch.org with a registered number.

If you did that technically church leadership for an area could be enable to global or territoriallysend out an SMS...for example:

[INDENT]The flood is coming...head for high ground.[/INDENT]

[INDENT]Spread the word![/INDENT]


[INDENT]-Noah[/INDENT]
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kgcrowther-p40
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Excellent Idea - Problems in Rural Areas

#2

Post by kgcrowther-p40 »

Mr. M wrote:Has there been any discussion about setting up SMS messaging for the Unit sites through the Unit Admins. I think that allowing users to enter their SMS phone number and opt in to recieve message via that method could be tremendous....talk about a jump start to emergency preparedness contacting.
This is an excellent idea. Google seems to have implemented it on many of their applications, I have found it to be extremely useful on their calendar application to send myself reminders. It seems like it would be inexpensive to implement as well, although you would need to do it service by service. My wife can send me a SMS message by sending a short email to 4341234567@messaging.sprintpcs.com, where 4341234567 is the phone number with the area code. Our ward has "calling chains" that are deployed several times per year when the snow does not allow access into the city where the church building is located.This would get the word out in a much shorter period of time.

On the down side there are quite areas in our ward (are ward is about the size of the state of Rhode Island in the foot hills of Virginia), that do not have cell phone coverage. Moreover, I have found that there are quite a number of people in our ward that do not have email - much less cell phones on which they receive messages.
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#3

Post by WelchTC »

Mr. M wrote:Has there been any discussion about setting up SMS messaging for the Unit sites through the Unit Admins. I think that allowing users to enter their SMS phone number and opt in to recieve message via that method could be tremendous....talk about a jump start to emergency preparedness contacting.

Tying that in, I think that it would be great to allow the Unit/Stake site administrators the ability to send an alert via sms to send out to all users without even having to log into the site by test messaging <UnitId>.ldschurch.org with a registered number.

If you did that technically church leadership for an area could be enable to global or territoriallysend out an SMS...for example:
[INDENT]The flood is coming...head for high ground.[/INDENT][INDENT]Spread the word![/INDENT][INDENT]-Noah[/INDENT]
Great idea. With the wide spread use of text messaging, there are a lot of things we could do to keep people informed.

Tom
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#4

Post by pulliae »

good idea in principle...but when it floods...it floods fast...
and then the power goes out...so there will be no cell phones to get sms messages on :(...and the lines will most likely be flooded anyway...so all you will get is a busy signal/voice mail.

FYI...our stake is setting up ham radio antennas in the attics of the buildings...this was the only form of communication that worked during the previous hurricanes....

it would be great if the sms messages could be set on a schedule to remind attendees that yw/ym /scouts/activity/etc...starts in half an hour.
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test the service on beta.tech.lds web site

#5

Post by kgcrowther-p40 »

pulliae wrote:it would be great if the sms messages could be set on a schedule to remind attendees that yw/ym /scouts/activity/etc...starts in half an hour.

That is a great idea. You would need to estimate the demand so that the infrastructure could be sufficient robust to handle X message at 6:30pm, since everyone would have similar start times.

It seems that such a system could be experimented with on this web site. When you subscribe to a thread options could be selected to recieve SMS notification when something is posted. (It may be a little silly, but an interesting test environment with an audience that would probably try it out.)
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#6

Post by Mr. M-p40 »

Tying to another thread...it would be awesome to be able to schedule reminders also.
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#7

Post by Mr. M-p40 »

In this case I would recomment the use of homing pigeons. :-) Sorry, couldn't resist.
pulliae wrote:good idea in principle...but when it floods...it floods fast...
and then the power goes out...so there will be no cell phones to get sms messages on :(...and the lines will most likely be flooded anyway...so all you will get is a busy signal/voice mail.

FYI...our stake is setting up ham radio antennas in the attics of the buildings...this was the only form of communication that worked during the previous hurricanes....

it would be great if the sms messages could be set on a schedule to remind attendees that yw/ym /scouts/activity/etc...starts in half an hour.
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#8

Post by thedqs »

Mr. M wrote:In this case I would recomment the use of homing pigeons. :-) Sorry, couldn't resist.
Need the dove to find anything though, raven just came back with nothing. :D

Anyway that would be cool to use this site as a test bed for this, though you might only be able to start with getting whenever anyone makes a new thread since that is the current RSS output. But still it would get the test out.

Don't know how complicated it would be for being able to post through SMS. Maybe that could be a consideration too.
- David
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#9

Post by darren_hildreth-p40 »

I'm glad we bumped into this thread. We are located in Las Vegas. Several stakes in the area are deep in the middle of their emergency prep planning. They have been looking at pagers and other equipment. We have been working with them to implement and SMS/IVR/Email solution for them. The idea has been to use the MLS DB complete with access rights, etc. to integrate with our web and WAP solutions. We already use SMS and IVR for many marketing needs and have the capability to quickly implement campus alerts. It will be interesting to see how we integrate with the stakes here in town. I guess the question I have is, why is there no field in the MLS to specify mobile phone vs. home phone? would that be a possible addition?

For a quick solution for these stakes we will likely be implementing a manually updated database independent of the MLS. If the proof works with these stakes it wouldn't be hard to implement on a more broad scale.
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#10

Post by cannona-p40 »

darren_hildreth wrote:I'm glad we bumped into this thread. We are located in Las Vegas. Several stakes in the area are deep in the middle of their emergency prep planning. They have been looking at pagers and other equipment. We have been working with them to implement and SMS/IVR/Email solution for them. The idea has been to use the MLS DB complete with access rights, etc. to integrate with our web and WAP solutions. We already use SMS and IVR for many marketing needs and have the capability to quickly implement campus alerts. It will be interesting to see how we integrate with the stakes here in town. I guess the question I have is, why is there no field in the MLS to specify mobile phone vs. home phone? would that be a possible addition?

For a quick solution for these stakes we will likely be implementing a manually updated database independent of the MLS. If the proof works with these stakes it wouldn't be hard to implement on a more broad scale.
I would also caution that depending on cell phones, even SMS, for emergency communication is risky. On the other hand, if it is just one part of a bigger strategy, then I think its a great idea.

Many people found that, after the 9/11 attacks in NYC, they were not able to place phone calls, as the cell networks were jammed, but they could send text messages, no problem.
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