Phone Recommendations for World (US and non-US) Use

[Woody M Collins]

Does anyone have any phone recommendations for use in the US and rest of the world?

I need a phone that works on the US and DR Congo. I reviewed the list of working phones on the FrontlineSMS website but I only found tri-band phones. I would prefer a quad-band phone.

[Alex Anderson]

Hi Woody,

I *think* the SonyEricsson k850 is quadband, and we've successfuly tested Frontline on that. Otherwise, I think there are some fairly cheap SonyEricsson quadband phones which are likely to work.

Sorry I can't be more specific, but maybe someone else can help!

[kiwanja]

Hi Woody

Thanks for the post - very good question!

FrontlineSMS will work with any mobile which supports AT (Hayes) commands, which is a large percentage but not certain device families such as Windows Mobile, Symbian, iPhone and Blackberry.

If you're researching a particular phone, and it's a Nokia, I know they have a developer forum which gives details of AT compatibility. I'll have to dig around and try to find it, or ask Alex to post the URL.

Ken

[Woody M Collins]

Thanks Alex and Ken!

Is there a high level document or scheme on how to get started with FrontlineSMS? For example, it appears you can use the Clickatell account OR a phone.

I am guessing you can access Clickatell via the internet. Therefore, do you still need a phone?

The program has great documentation but I have not seen the overview, high level concept.

Thanks again.

[kiwanja]

Hi again, Woody

I think we need to put together something, as you suggest, re: documentation.

You are right, though. If you set up a Clickatell account (there is a link from the Help system to the right section on their site) then you won't need an attached phone. We included Clickatell support primarily for outgoing messages (to allow for very large, cheap, quick message blasts). You would probably still ideally have a local phone and SIM attached so people can reply to you (if you want to get replies).

Best of luck with this!

Ken

[cidadaoglobal]

I am a new user and I think this is a great service but there are a lot of things that need to be simplified in the documentation. I still do not understand how to receive messages using keywords. I am on an iphone in the US and not sure if I can use my phone. I am on clikatell and still have not got anything to work, even sending out. I need a 1.2.3. kind of manual.

If I use clikatell, can it receive messages for me? what about thee-mail function. lots of questions here.

[kiwanja.net]

Hi again

As per my other message, everything is explained in the "Help" files. We can only answer specific questions through the Forum, unfortunately. Read the "Help" files which explains how keywords work, and emails, and the other features, and if you have any specific questions let us know.

There is a quick-start guide available which covers using SMS more generally, but also covers FrontlineSMS. There is a link to this on the "What is it?" page of the site. You can get it here:

http://www.kiwanja.net/media/docs/Changemakers-kiwanja-SMS-Guide.pdf

Ken

[Woody M Collins]

Hi Ken,

Thanks. As I learn more, I will start putting together a user manual. It would be a companion document to your systems document. It would add functional procedures.

[Becky Faith]

Hey Woody

I'm part of a team working on a mobile advocacy toolkit aimed at advocates and activists in the developing world which includes Frontline SMS.... Ken is on our editorial team and has written some great copy for us. If you're interested in sharing your documentation with us that would be great!

[Woody M Collins]

I purchased an Sony Ericsson 550i. It's quad band. It was reasonably priced at $200 for an unlocked version.

AND! It worked first time out of the box in the US over the AT&T network. It successfully sent and received messages.

I am currently in Congo. I hope to test it within the next day or so.

[kiwanja]

Hey Woody!

Congrats - very happy to hear that. =)

Thanks for sharing the news.

Also, look out for the upgrade to the new version (1.4.7) which has just been released. You should have an email by now.

Best of luck, and stay in touch.

Ken